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^ 



ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS 

OF 

THE AMERICAN MUSEUM 
OF NATURAL HISTORY 

VOL. XXIV, PART II 

MYTHS AND TALES FROM THE WHITE MOUNTAIN APACHE 

BY 

PLINY EARLE GODDARD 




NEW YORK 

PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES 
1919 

MonoffrnnV. 



MYTHS AND TALES FROM THE WHITE MOUNTAIN APACHE. 
By Pliny Eakle Goddard. 



87 



Introduction. 

Those myths and talcs arc the free translations of texts recorded in 
the dialect of the White Mountain Apache. The texts themselves with 
word for word translations follow as Part IV of the volume. They were 
recorded, with one exception, during the winter of 1910 as a part of the 
studies made in the Southwest under the yearly grant of Mr. Archer M. 
Huntington. Tlie creation myth, secured from Noze, differs in important 
incidents from the Acrsions given above from the San Carlos as well as 
from versions secured from other White Mountain Apache. It should 
not be assumed that these (iifferenccs are tribal, it is more proliable that 
they are individual, since forms from the San Carlos and Navajo are closely 
similar to each other. 

The greater numl)er of the remaining narratives were secured from the 
father of Frank Crockett, the interpreter employed. Several of these are 
ceremonial and religious in their character and probably would not have 
been giA-en except for the son's influence. Two of these were later secured 
from San Carlos informants in more extended form but highly corroborative 
in their general agreement. 

The main purpose in recording these narrati\Ts was to secure sufficient 
and A'aried connected texts in the dialect of the W'hite Mountain Apache. 
As a collection of mythology and folklore it is probably far from complete. 
It is assumed, however, to be fairly representative. 

Pliny Earle Goddard. 
January, 1919. 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction 

Creation Myth 

Naiyenezgani 

The Placing of the Earth 

The Adolescence Ceremony 

The Migration of the Gans 

Releasing the Deer 

Deer Woman 

The G.\mbler avho secuiieu the Water-Ceremony 

The Man who visited the Sky with the Eagles 

He who became a Snake 

The Hunter who secured the Bear Ceremony 

The Cannibal Owl 

The Doings of Coyote 

Bibliography . 



Page. 

89 
93 
115 
119 
123 
124 
126 
127 
128 
132 
135 
136 
137 
138 
139 



1919.] Goddard, White Mountain Apache Myths and Tales. 93 



Creation* Myth.^ 

There were many houses there. A maiden went from the settlement to 
the top of a high mountain - and came where the rays of the rising Sun first 
strike. She raised her skirt and the "breath" of the Sun entered her. 
She went up {he mountain four mornings, and four times the breath of the 
Sun penetrated her. This girl who had never been married became preg- 
nant and the people were making remarks about it. 

She went up the mountain on four successive days and four days after 
that, eight days altogether, she gave birth to a child. Four days later, 
the child stood on its feet. His fingers and toes were webbed and he had 
neither eyebrows nor eyelashes and the hairs on his head were scattered, 
one in a place. His ears were round with only the openings. Everyone 
said he did not look like a man. After fom- more days he walked well 
and played with the other children. 

His niother went again to the east and lay down under a place where 
water was dripping. The water fell into her as it dripped from the hang- 
ing algse. She did this four times and became pregnant. After four days 
they all saw that her abdomen was enlarged and when she had been in that 
condition four days, eight days in all, she gave birth to another child.^ 
When it was four days old it stood up and was able to walk well. Its 
appearance was like that of the first child. It had webbed hands and feet 
and was without hair. It had round ears with holes only. The children 
walked about together, the head of one being higher than that of the otlier. 

The people were asking, "Whose children are these going about?" 
They wantetl to know who would make them like human beings. " Wlio are 
the kin of the woman whose children are going about among us?" The 
mother had a sister who wondered why the people were saying these things, 
for the boys had a father who li\"ed a long way off. 

The boys were eight days old antl big enough to rim about and were 
becoming intelligent. They asked their mother where their father was 
living. "Why do you ask?"" she said. "You cannot go to him."" "Why 

1 Told by a White Mountain Apache called Xoze, at Rice. Arizona, in January. 1910. 
Noze was a native of Cedar Creek and came to the San Carlos Reservation when it was 
organized. He was for a long time the chief of a considerable band which in 1910 had greatly 
dwindletl. He died some time between 1910 and the next visit in 1914. 

= This moimtain was said to be called isidahjnasi and to stand by the ocean at the south. 
This is a remarkable statement as east would have been expected and as is so stated in fact 
in a following paragraph 

s This makes the boys In-others iii our use of the word. They are always so called in 
the Navajo account according to which their mothers were sisters. Matthews, 105. 



94 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXIV, 

do you say that? Why do you hide our father from us?" the boys asked. 
"Well, do you really want to go where your father lives?" she asked them. 
"Why do you suppose we are asking?" the boys replied. "We will go 
where our father lives." Their mother told them that they were talking 
foolishly, that the distance was great, and that they would not be able to go. 
The boys insisted but were again discouraged by their mother. They 
finally said that it must be they had no father if they could not go to him. 
The mother then consented and said they three would go to the top of a 
great mountain. She cut a supply of meat and after four days, when it 
was near dawn, tliey started. They came to the top of the mountain when 
it was day and stood there facing the Sun. The Avoman stood between the 
boys holding them by the hand. When the sun was rising she said: "Look, 
your father is rising. Observe well. His breath streams out from four 
sides. Go towards the streaming out of his breath. There are dangerous 
things living in the east. What have you to go with?" She had a brown 
fly and she gave it to the boys, that it might sit by their ears. The fly was 
to show them the way and tell them where the dangerous ones lived. 

She told them they were to start at midday. They remained there 
until the sun reached the sky hole.'^ They then went four times around the 
trees on top of the mountain. The woman started home and the boys 
set out on their journey. 

The boys went toward the east but the Sun was going in the opposite 
direction." The boys sat down and cried. A Raven, spreading out his 
wings, alighted ncarl)y and asked the boys why they were crying. The 
boys replied that their father lived over there and that they were going to 
visit him. The Raven asked if they were carrying anything in the way of 
food with them. They replied that they had some meat. The Raven said 
they might ride on his back if they would give him some of the meat. The 
fly told them it would be all right to ride on the Raven, that the Raven 
could see half the way and that there someone was living who knew the 
remainder of the way. They were told by the Raven to break up the meat 
and ])ut the i)ieces in his mouth, that two of the parcels would sustain him 
until he finished the journey as far as he knew the way. They were directed 
to get on the RaAen's back. Tlie Raven began by flying near the ground, 
then went higher and higher, circling around. A hot rain fell but the 
Raven covered them with his wings. They kept putting the meat into the 
Raven's mouth. When they had fed the Raven two pieces of the meat 
they passed through a cloud where the large Eagle lived. The Raven 



' At the center of the sky. 

= And therefore the boys were not seen by the Sun. 



1919.] Goddard, White Mountain Apache Myths and Tales. 95 

told them that that one (the Eagle) would now take them, that he knew all 
the places because he saw everything upon the earth; that he himself would 
go back. 

The Eagle asked them where they were going, saying that he lived in a 
dangerous place. The boys indicated the direction they were going, saying 
they had been told their father lived there. Eagle said it was true their 
father lived at that place and asked if they had heard al)out his house. 
The boys rej)lie(l that their mother had told them that the Sun was their 
father and that he lived over there. Because she had told them this they 
were on their way to see him. Eagle asked them by what means they 
intended to go, saying even he was in danger from the Sun. The fly staying 
by the ear of one of the boys flew away and soon returned with the statement 
that the dangerous places did exist and that Eagle, with whom they were 
sitting, was the one who knew and was in control of these dangerous places. 
Before the house of the Sun was ice, interlocked like fallen timber. Eagle 
afldressed tlie boys, asking if they had with them anything from the earth, 
meaning meat. They repliefi that they had and each of the boys took some 
from his pocket. Eagle asked for some of it, wliicli wlien it was given him 
he ate. 

Eagle then said they would set out, for he knew the trail. He requested 
them to put meat in his mouth as he flew with them, indicating the amount 
which would be sufficient for the trail. ^Yhen they were seated on the Eagle 
he started down with them, circling aroimd as he flew. A storm of hail 
fell on tliem, the hailstones being large with thirty -two points.^ The eagle 
protected the boys by covering them with his wings which were rolled back 
over them. When they had passed through the storm Eagle asked that 
meat l)e put in his mouth. When he had been fed he flew away with 
the boys and went through a hole which was there for him. When he came 
to the trail he alighted and pointing out the path told them that it led to 
the house of the Sun.'- He said that he himself would now turn back home. 

The boys went forward until they crossed a shallow valley beyond which 
was the house, which had projections running out in four directions. W'hen 
they walked with their eyes closed the house went out of sight, but when 
they opened their eyes the house settled down again. It did this four times 
and then it stood firmly. The two boys walked on and coming to the house, 
stood in front of the entrance. An old woman who was the wife of the 
Sun sat there. 

' The sacred numbers are 4, 12, and 32. 

- This method of making tlie journey has not been encountered before in this connec- 
tion, but is an incident in a European story secured from the San Carlos, p. 82, above. The 
usual account incUides a series of obstacles some of which resemble the incidents of a Eiu-opeau 
story. See p. 116 below. 



9() Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXIV, 

She ad^•ised tlieni to go on where\'er they were intending- to go. since a 
person of mean disposition was soon to arriAe. The woman who spoke to 
them was really handsome but she sat there in the form of an old woman. 
The boys replied that they had been told that their father lived there, and 
that they had started to come that morning. The woman replied that she 
did not know who their father was. The boys said that the Sun was their 
father and they had come to visit him. The woman then asked who had 
told them that the Sun was their father. They said their mother had told 
them so. The woman told them that their father would soon return and 
asked them to be seated on a chair she indicated. When they were seated, 
the chair kept whirling around with them. When the chair would lift up 
the woman would make it come down again. When the woman saw the 
chair come down again she announced herself as nearly convinced they had 
spoken the truth. 

Saying that the Sun was now coming close, she took four silk blankets ^ 
of different colors which had been sewed together projecting in four direc- 
tions and rolled the boys up in them. She put them into an inside room. 
They heard the Sun come back and heard him speak. " Old woman, where 
are the two men who came here?" he asked. The woman replied: "I 
have not seen an\one. No one has been here." " You say there is no one. 
They must ha\e come, for here are their tracks," the Sun replied. "You 
must ha^'e been cohal)iting with someone else. You say you travel over 
this broad earth and that you do not visit anyone. You must have been 
deceiving me about it for two men came in from that trail saying they are 
your children," his wife said. The Sun asked that they be brought in, 
and the woman opened the door, brought in the roll of blankets, and threw 
it down. The Sim shook the blankets and two men stood up. The Sun 
spoke: "Hesh, do you consider these to be my children? They do not 
look like me." He stood by them and repeated his question, calling atten- 
tion to their webbed hands and feet and their round ears. "Are you really 
my children?" he asked them. "Who is called the Sun, 1 wonder?" the 
youngest of the boys said, and water fell from his eyes. " Well, maybe you 
are my children. Sit here and wait," the Sun said. Their fly looked 
around and reported that the man was their father. After examining the 
room everywhere, the inner corners, the windows, and door, the fly told 
them that ordeals were being prepared for them. He said that soon a 
blazing sky would be arranged, into which they would be thrown. The 
Qy looked around for downy feathers which he gave the boys. 

When the Sun had fuiished eating he asked that those who said thev were 



1 Clouds according to the Navajo account, Matthews, 111; and below, p. 117. 



1919.] Goddnrd, White Mountain Apache Mijths and Tales. 97 

the Sun's children should he hrought in. He threw them into the place of 
danger. He pushed them in with lightning which had sharp spines. They 
turned into downy feathers and stood in front of him again. "It is true," 
the Sun said. He threw them in four times, pushing them down. Each 
time they turned into feathers and came back in front of the Sun as before. 
The Sun then said he was convinced that they were his children. His 
wife said: "They told you they were your children, but you haAe treated 
them badly." The Sun replied: "They certainly are my children but 1 
did not belie^'e it before." The Sun asked his wife to prepare a sweatlodge 
as soon as the^\" had eaten. 

She made a sweatlodge covered with a blue blanket on one side, a black 
one on another side, a white one on another side, and a yellow one on another 
side. His wife had the stones heated red hot, like red hot iron. They 
three went right in, but the Sun only came out again. When the bath had 
been heated the fourth time the boys were as if they had l)een Ijoiled. He 
pushed back the skin which was between their fingers and toes. He fixed 
for them their lower leg muscles, their knees, their thighs, their biceps, 
their elbows, and their lower arms. He made the hair of their heads come 
to their hips, twisting it off at that length. He made their ears, their 
eyelashes, and their eyebrows, their noses, their mouths, and their faces. 
He fixed every part of their bodies as it should l)e. The Sun went out of 
the bath with the bo\s and sat with them on the seat where his wife usually 
sat. They were just like men.^ ^Yhen the wife of the Sun came and stood 
in front of them she looked at them closely, but could not distinguish one 
from the other. "]^Io^•e, husband," she said. The one sitting in the 
middle moved himself. "You told me you had not been with any woman 
but you fooled me. These are your children. You must ha\-e a wife. 
Go home with them," the woman said. 

The Sun spoke to his wife, saying that these were his children but that 
if he went away with them to the earth she would l)e lonesome. Only 
today there was a good sunset. "Just now when you said 'no' your eye 
winked," he said to her. "1 am jealous of what is far away," she said. 
The Sun said he would not go, but would talk to his children. 

"My boys, shall I give you names?" "Yes, it is not well to be without 
names," they replied. Then the Sun said he would name them. He told 
the older his name would be Naiyenezgani and that he must behave well.^ 



1 Thus far the myth seems chiefly to deal with the adolescence reremony of the boys. 
The San Carlos accoimt brings in the Sun's father and brothers of the Sun's father as per- 
formers of this ceremony, while the Navajo account mentions the daughters of the Sun. 
See p. 11 above, and Matthews, 112. 

2 Other versions make this the second naming of the elder brother. His boyhood name 
was "Whitehead," p. 31. Still other names are known to the Navajo, Matthews, 263-264. 



98 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Xatural History. [Vol. XXIV, 

He told the other one that he would be named Tobatc'istcini. "When you 
are upon tlie earth you will be called so and you vdW tell them that your 
father named you that. You shall say, 'He made my name Xaiyenezgani.' 
But you, 'Tobatc'istcini he made my name,' you must tell them." 

The Sun then asked them for what they had come. They told him they 
had come for his horse, his saddle, his bridle, his halter, his rope, and his 
saddle blanket. The Sun asked who had told them he had such property. 
The older one replied that their mother had told them what property he had 
and had told them that she would be happy if tliey brought it back to the 
earth. She said that he (the Sun) would also be happy. The Sun replied 
that he had no property, no horse, saddle, bridle, halter, rope, or saddle 
blanket. The fly had told them that the Sun had these, but he looked 
around again and reported that the Sun had them close by. 

"Let us go over there," one of tliem proposed. They went to a fenced 
enclosure and entered through a gate. The yard was so full of black bears 
that the mass of their moving backs occupied the entire space. "Which 
of those are my horses?" the Sun asked. "They are fearful animals," the 
boys replied. "These are my horses," the Sun insisted and mounted one 
of tliem and rode around on it. The fly informed the boys that they were 
being deceived. The Sun proposed that they should go in another direc- 
tion to another enclosure. Inside tliis yard were white-tail deer, mule 
deer, elk, and mountain-sheep. The Sun announced that these were his 
horses and told the boys to choose any one they liked and catch it. " Which 
is the largest?" he asked them. "These are not horses," the boys replied, 
"they are named deer. We asked you for horses." The Sun insisted they 
were his horses and that he rode them great distances. "Well, you have 
outnntted me. I thought 1 would succeed in outwitting you, but you have 
won." The younger brother asked the Sun what he was concealing from 
them, saying he could find them. The Sun asked them not to say that and 
proposed that they look in another place where he had a few horses confined. 
They went to the place indicated and found the place filled with antelope, 
sheep, goats, and pigs. "Catch any one of these you want," the Sun 
said. "You tend to them here alone," the boys replied and walked out 
leaA-ing the Sun who followed behind. 

They went to the house and ate a meal. Their fly told them that the 
Sun's horses were in the enclosure that had four doors. "\Mien they had 
finished eating they went to this enclosure which was a house with a roof 
haWng holes in it. It had spikes like irons, sticking up from it. It was 
closed and completely dark. " There are horses in there," the fly told them. 
The Sun said, " 1 told you it was useless." One of the boys asked that they 
might look in. There was a door there which he opened. A little bevond it 



1919.] Goddard, White Mountain Apache Myths and Tales. 99 

was another door, a little beyond another, and a httle beyond that another, 
and still l)eyon(l that another. They now came to horses in the enclosure 
but could not enter. By standing on something they could see through a 
hole in the roof. They could not get in between the horses until the\- were 
caused to separate and to open up a passage. The Sun then told them to 
catch the horse that they thought was his. The fly sitting by one of their 
ears told them the\- were to catch the horse with a rope which they should 
induce the Sun to give them. "When the Sun again urged them to catch 
the horse without delay, they asked whether they should lead the horse 
by the mane or carry him out in their hands. The Sun, with spotted ropes 
in his hand, went right through the door which he opened. He gave one of 
the ropes to each of the boys, telling them to catch the horses which were 
his. The animals were milling around in the enclosure. In the center was 
one which was not mo\ing, a sorrel with a small white spot on its forehead. 
Its mane reached the ground. When it raised its head one of the boys 
started toward it, the horses separating. He threw the rope and caught 
the horse which he led l)ack. The Sun then told the other l)oy to catch a 
horse, wanting to know who had told him which horse to catch. There 
was a stallion running around the outside of the herd. Its mane reached 
the ground; he was acting wild but the fly told them that although he acted 
as if he were mean he was really gentle. He directed them to take both these 
horses from the Sun. When the other boy started with his rope toward the 
stallion he was running around the outside of the herd and coming toward 
the boy. \Mi(mi he came close and saw the boy he stopped and then wheelefl 
back. The boy lassoed it and immediately the horse trotted up to him, 
nosing his arm. He led the stallion up beside the sorrel horse which was 
a mare. The Sun said: "There they are, ride them, take them with you 
to the earth." 

The boys then asked for the horse trappings for which they had also 
come. The Sun said he did not know what they meant by horse trappings. 
The younger boy said, " Well, if you do not know what horse trappings are, 
do not again put them on these horses in the corral." The Sun asked who 
it was who had made them as smart as he was himself. They replied that 
he, the Sun, had made them smart and had made them speak wisely. They 
then asked by name for bridle, halter, saddle blanket, and saddle.' Turning 
his back to the boys he walked away and opened a door, bidding the boys 
enter. They went in and saw saddles lying there with bridles hanging 
on the saddle horns. The blankets were lying beneath. Before they went 
in the fly flew in and selected two out of all the saddles. One was lying at 

' To know by name things or animals hitlierto unknown is often mentioned as a great 
feat. P. 24. 



100 Anthropological Papers American Mmeum of Natural History. [Vol. XXIV, 

the cast and the other at the west. The first was blue and the other yellow. 
The fly had returned to one of their ears by the time the Sun said: "There 
are those saddles, take the ones you want." The fly told the bo}-s that the 
saddles which looked good really were not, but that they should choose the 
blue and yellow ones, indicating them, and the blankets, halters, bridles, 
and ropes of similar colors lying by them. These were the Sun's own partic- 
ular set of trappings. When the Sun urged them to hurry up each boy 
stepped toward the saddle he had chosen. When they did so the saddles 
moved of themselves with the blankets and bridles. There was a sound 
"gij" of the moving leather and "tsil" as they came to rest. 

The Sun turned his face away and took a black silk handkerchief which 
had two white stripes around the border from his pocket. With this he 
wiped his eyes. "1 raised you for just this purpose," he said. The Sun 
started to walk toward the horses. Their fly had told them not to touch 
the saddles, that the Sun himself would fix them. "They belong to you," 
the fly said. "E^-erything is alive; the rope on the horse moves about of 
itself. The saddle will jump on of itself." ' The fly told them this. The 
halter was gone, the bridle and saddle blanket which had been lying on 
the saddle were gone. The halter, bridle, and saddle blanket that had been 
with the blue saddle were also gone. The Sun called them to come where he 
was standing. They both went out again and the doors of the saddle room 
and of the stable were shut. 

They went to the Sun, who was standing between the two horses so that 
their heads projected as he held the bridles. They started away, the boys 
walking in front of the Sun as he directed them to do. They passed through 
the four doors to a post standing in front of the Sun's house. He led the 
horses to the post where they stood without being tied." There were four 
chairs standing inside the Sun's house; and one by itself for the woman.^ 
His children sat on the chairs and his wife sat on the one which was hers. 
The Sun addressed them as follows: — 

"My boys, 1 will instruct you about the dangerous places ^ou will 
come to. The horses know the dangerous places on. the way back. My wife 
is pleased with you and treats you well. That is why you are to have these 
horses, one of which is hers. The other is mine and so is the saddle, bridle, 

1 It is seldom that the Apache conception of animism is so plainly stated. Songs how- 
ever aboimd in the designation of objects as "living." 

2 When a youth went through an adolescence ceremony he did it with a definite career 
in mind. Th'> normal myth of this type put the emphasis on the weapons secured and feats 
of warlike prowess in killing the monsters; that is, the warrior idea is uppermost. This 
version stresses the acquisition of horses and probably is a specialized myth for those who wish 
to be successful in acquiring and breeding horses. 

' The house of the Sun with the stable and corral, the fm-niture of the house, and many 
other references indicate the home of a European and such seems to be the conception. 



'•'19-] Goddard, White Mountain Apache Myths and Tales. 101 

lialter, and saddK" blanket. They are all mine. You will go back to your 
kindred. ^Yhen you are near, hurry. 1 will give you something." 

The Sun got uj) and reached inside to a shelf from which he took up an 
iron kiu'fe like a sword. Turning around he took up a bow and arrows 
having iron heads. There were two of the arrows. "1 give these to you," 
lie said. " You are giving us these! Our mother did not know about them. 
Why does she not give us something?" the boys said. The Sun's wife said 
she would speak a few words to them. "You shall be my nephews. Your 
mother shall be my sist(M-. She shall be like me. Because of this 1 have 
treated ^ou well. She shall be the same as 1. 1 become an old woman and 
at other times I am as if I were two years old. She shall be the same way.^ 
"I'ou shall tell her this before the Sun travels far. 1 am the one telling you; 
lie did not tell you. I will name my sister. Your father will give you names. 
The Sun picked something up and was still holding it. "Wait, I will tell 
you something and after that he will give you a name. 1 name her Xigos- 
lsanbika\o.- Every one will call her that. She will come to me. You, 
too, will come to me. 1 gi\e a name to your mother. She will be called 
PiSts'iumadlehi and she will help you. 1 make a name for her, Ests'un- 
nadlehi, and with that she will help ;\'ou. When she has children again they 
will be two girls. These girls will belong to the people for there will be 
people.^ She will h(>lp th(>m. I, too, will help them when they come to me. 
He, too, will help his children. Tliat is why 1 am telling you and you must 
remember it well. I have finished. Your father will tell you about the 
objects he is about to give you." 

The Sun gave the elder boy a weapon saying, "This will be called a 
'blue sword.' You will use it against the monsters on the earth. Because 
of that I gave you the name, Naiyenezgani." He gave the weapon to him 
saying, "That is all for you." Addressing the younger, he said, "Now I 
giAe this to you, Tobatc'istcini. You will use this which I give you against 
those who prey upon people. You are to help each other. I shall be near 
you watching you. Whate\'er you do will be known to me. It will be well 
if you kill these evil ones. The people will live everywhere." He gave 
him the bow with the injunction that he should draw the l)ow three times 
without releasing the arrow and then he should shoot the dane-erous beings 



1 The two wives of the Sim are often mentioned. The Navajo accoimt has Esdzana- 
dlelii go to the west where the sun visits her daily. Here and there, especially in the 
songs, the Moon is coupled with the Sim, and is feminine in sex. That the IMoon and the 
Earth should both be called the "Woman who renews herself" is interesting. These con- 
ceptions are generally vague and imphed rather than e.xpressed. 

2 Earth, literally "There on the earth." 

^ The narrator said those mentioned at the beginning of the narrative were not real 
people but just like shadows. The other versions have only the one family existing at this 
time. 



102 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXIV, 

and they would fly apart. Having said this, he proposed they should eat 
something. The Sun's wife was still sitting in her accustomed seat. The 
men went to the table, well loaded with food prepared by some unknown 
agency, and began to eat. The Sun's wife gave the elder one a spotted belt 
with a yellow fringe hanging from its border. 

When they had finished the meal, the Sun said he did not know how 
the visitors were to return. They went where the horses stood and the 
Sun said, " Children, this stallion will go well in the lead. Now mount the 
horses." He held the stirrup and saddle horn and told the boys to get on. 
They did so and rode away from the Sun's house where towards the east a 
post stands up with white hair ^ which reaches to the ground and turns up 
again. The rain falls on it. They rode their horses around this post four 
times and came back where they were standing before, as the Sun directed 
them to do. 

When they had finished, the Sun's wife came up to them and told her 
husband to count for his sons the two saddle blankets, two halters, two 
bridles, two ropes, and two saddles. The Sun told them to start home; 
that he was well acquainted with them. He charged them to take good 
care of the saddle blankets and directed that the gray horse should go in 
the lead because he knew the trail to the place midway between the earth 
and the sky. From that point the sorrel horse was to lead because that 
one knew the way from there on. When thev' returned where their mother 
lived he told them to stake the horses out for four nights. The sorrel was 
to be staked toward the east and the gray to the west. Having ridden the 
horses among the people they were to unsaddle them in some good place. 
A white saddle blanket was to be placed toward the east, a black one to the 
south, a yellow one to the west, and a blue one to the north. ^ The bridles, 
halters, ropes, and saddles were to be brought to the carajD. He charged 
them to keep in mind what he was telling, for he was telling them this that 
they nn'ght be good men. He divided his property between his boys. He 
told them after the horses had been running loose four days to go to them 
early in the morning. This might be in any good place where canyons 
meet, making a flat. When they came to them they were to hold out their 
hands, i)alms upward, towards the horses. They were to catch the horses 
while they were licking their liands. They were to consider what he told 
them and when they should go for the horses after four days, the four 



' The refenncc may be to moss, especially as rain falling on it is mentioned below. 

2 The narrator said it was true that horses would not pass a blanket so placed in a 
narrow canyon. 

This order of the colors and their assignment varies from the one more generally 
found of black for the east and white for the soutli. P. 7, and Matthews, 215. 



l'>l-»] (ioddcml, While Mounlain Apache Mylhs and Tales. 103 

canyons coming toijetlier would he full of horses. When their horses had 
been cau->lit hy holding- out their, hands, the saddle blankets, one on the 
other, were to be put on them and the horses were to be saddled. They 
were to ride the horses all day until sunset when they were to be turned out 
again. Ha\ing turned them out, they were told they might go the next 
day to see what was happening. Having finished his speech he dismissed 
the boys. 

They went with the Sun until they came to the top of the ridge, where 
they stoppetl. Tlie Sun felt the horses all over. He felt of their legs, their 
feet, their faces, their ears, their manes, their backs, petting them. " Good- 
bye, my horses," he said, " travel well for my boys down to the earth. There 
is food for you on ttie earth the same as here." He addressed the gray 
horse, telling him to be the leader on the way toward the earth since he 
knew the way. He told the boys not to look at the horses' feet nor to 
look behind them, Init to keep their eyes fixed on the tips of their ears. 

They started; before they knew it the horses had changed places, and 
the sorrel was leading. They thought the earth was far off Ijut they soon 
found thv horses were trotting along on the earth. Now the horses were 
running with them toward their camp. They rode up slowly where the people 
were walking about. They rode to the camp side by side, and the people 
all ran out to look at them. Their mother was standing outside watching 
them and they rode up one on each side of her. "Mother, Ests'unnadlehi, 
unsaddle our horses," they said to her. 

The j)eople all came up to them. The woman, laughing, ran her hand 
oxer the horses saying, "Your father gave you large horses." When the 
people had all come there, the boys told them to call their mother Ests'un- 
nadlehi. They all called her by that name. The older boy said they were 
to call him Xaiyenezgani. The younger one said they were to call him 
Tol)atc'istcini.^ They addressed them saying, "When we were here before 
you used to laugh at us because we were poor. We used to walk because 
we were poor. We haxe visited our father where he li\'es. The Sun's wife 
named our mother. ( "all me Xaiyenezgani. That one was given the name, 
Tobatc'istcini. These will be our names and be careful to call them cor- 
rectly. Do not come near these horses. We will stake one out here and 
the other one there. They will remain tied out four days. You may go." 

Before sundown on the fourth day the horses whinnied. They went to 
their horses and saddled them. They rode arounfl among the camps until 
sundown and then rode them to a fiat where four canxons came together. 



I This announcing of names is probably to be explained as ceremonial. Ordinarily, it is 
improper, probably because immodest, to call one's own name. 



104 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXIV, 

Tliey hung a white saddle blanket toward the east, a black one to the south, 
a yellow one to the west, and a blue one to the north. Their fly told them 
to hang the blankets in four places, malcino; an enclosure of them. After 
four days they were to come and would find conditions different. He 
charged the boys not to miss doing just as their father had told them. 
They went back to the camp carrying the saddles, bridles, halters, and ropes. 
After two days had passed their fly flew away. He returned, reporting 
that there were many horses filling the place where the four canyons came 
together. The next day he reported that tlie horses were so thick one could 
walk on their backs. The next day (the fourth), about sunrise, the two 
boys went there with their ropes in their hands. When they came to the 
eastern canyon it was full of white horses, the southern one was full of l)lack 
horses, the western was full of yellow horses, and the northern canyon with 
blue (gray) horses. 

They took down all the saddle blankets and piled them together. With 
valleys in four directions full of horses they did not know their former 
horses from the others. They considered how they might distinguish them. 
The horses were milling around near where a blanket hung. They were all 
mingled togetlier with the colors mixed. The men approached the horses 
but they stopped before they got to them. They extended their hands 
with pollen on the palms and the horses whinneyed. Then two horses 
trotted up to them and licked the pollen from the hands of their owners 
who caught them while they did it.^ They led these horses back to the 
camp where the saddles, etc., were lying. 

^Vhen they led these two horses all the others followed. Their fly told 
them all about the two horses, what they had done, and that they had made 
many horses for them. Four days from now it would come about that the 
broad earth would be covered with horses. Their fly flew to the Sun's 
camp and the Sun instructed him. "Drive the horses over this way and 
put a halter on top of that mountain; put a rope on the top of this moun- 
tain to the south; put a halter on the top of the mountain to the west; 
and put a rope on the mountain to the north. Your father says this," 
the fly told them. 

The older of the l)rotliers told the people that they should ride the 
horses and not think they were wild. "Catch any of them and saddle 
them. When you have ridden ^our horses, then do not go near them for 
four da\s. Keep away from the horses which are inside where the halters 
and ropes are lying. Turn the horses loose in the space enclosed by the 

1 The use of pollen for .sacred purposes is a very important feature among the Athapascan 
of the Southwest. It is always preferred to the cornmeal used by the Pueblo peoples. 



i919.] Goddard, White Mountain Apache Myths and Tales. 105 

rop(>s and tlit- lialter. If tlie\- see you they may stampede. These horses 
will be of great value to you." 

The brothers rode the two horses and the others all followed. When 
the two horses whimie\ed, the others all answered. They took off the 
ropes and went back to camp. They asked their mother to put up two 
posts and to put a smooth jjole across their tops. She was asked to put 
the saddles on this pole with their horns toward the east.^ The bridles 
were to be hung on the saddle horns and the saddle blankets spread over 
the saddles. They asked her to think about the saddles where they were 
lying during the night. 

She kept her mind on the saddles during the night and in the early 
morning she went out to them. There were four saddles on the pole where 
there had been only two. She still kept her mind on the saddles and the 
next morning there were six lying there. "My child," she said, "you 
spoke the truth. I kept my mind on the saddles and six are now lying 
there." Tobatc'istcini said, "Very well, keep thinking aI)out them all 
night and go to them early in the morning." When she went out, there 
were eight saddles on the pole. 

Xaiyenezgani said he was going yonder and would be back by sunset. 
He went to the monntain top where the halter lay. The Sun was standing 
there. "It nuist be my father," he said. "I did not know you. I am 
glad you came down to me." "Well, my son," the Sun replied, "let us go 
aronnd the horses." "What time will it be when we get around them?" 
the son asked. Lca\"ing the place where the halters were lying they went 
where the ropes were. The space was level full of horses. "Fine, my 
son," the Sun said to Xaiyenezgani, "with ropes and halters you made a 
fence so the horses cannot get out. You have this broad world for a corral." 

They went on and came where the halters were piled up. "These 
halters will round up the wild liorses for you and you will put them on their 
heads." The\- went on and came where the rope hung. "These ropes 
will dri^-e the horses together for you. They will drive the wild horses 
close to camp for you." They started back and came where Naiyenezgani 
had met the Sun. " I have done everything for you," the Sun said. "Now 
I am going back and leave you. You too will go home. Tomorrow it will 
be finished. You will give your people tw'o horses apiece. Give each of 
them one stallion and one mare. Distribute them from noon until sunset. 
These horses are mares and stallions in equal numbers. Tonight two 
saddles are to be placed on the pole you put up. You shall keep three 
saddles and give away seven. When you give away the horses give away 

1 In the division of labor the women are supposed to saddle and unsaddle the horses. 



10() AntJiropnlogical Papers American Mmeuin of Natural History. [Vol. XXIV, 

seven saddles. Now my son, we separate. Shake hands. Others will do 
as we do. They said njo to each other and separated. It was not long 
before he was hack and stood there as the sun set. He was happy and 
laughing-. "Where have you been, my son?" his mother asked. "You 
must Inne been in a good place or you would not be laughing." "What 
did you say, mother?" he replied. "lam happy; when I came over there 
where the halter lay I met my father. I walked with him all day. As 
we walked around the horses he told me about everything. I am happy." 

He said that none of them sliould go out tomorrow, l)Ut that he himself 
would go out early. When he went out there in front of the yellow saddle 
la\' a white saddle. Behind that was a blue one. Between them was a 
yellow saddle. The pole was full. There were ten saddles in a row. " I 
told you to put up a long pole, and \ou put up a short one," he said to his 
mother. "You said dig one hole here and another there, my son," she 
replied. "Just these may well be our saddles," he said. He called To- 
batc'istcini, saying they would go to catch the horses. "You go to the rope 
over there. I, too, will go to the other rope. Hurry, we will catch the 
horses," he said to him. He ran where one rope was, and the other one 
went where the other rope was. When they came to the two ropes, they 
circled around, "driving the horses all towards each other. They could not 
find their own horses, the Sun's horses. They went \\nio the enclosure and 
walked around. Even when they went around that way they could not 
find the horses. They looked for them again, going around among the 
other horses, but they could not find them. The horses touched each 
other, they were so thick. 

Then Tobatc'istcini said, " Naiyenezgani, why do you act so? Is 
your mind gone? You say you met your father yesterday and that you 
spent the day going around the horses. He took them out of the herd, 
and away from .you." 

Naiyenezgani caught a black stallion and the other brother a sorrel 
gelding. When they led them to the camp their mother asked Tobatc'is- 
tcini why he had caught a sorrel and told him to turn him loose and catch a 
white gelding. She said the gray and sorrel horses were made for them 
and that they were well trained the day before. She told them to hurry 
and drive the horses in. Tobatc'istcini rode the sorrel horse back and 
unsaddled it. He then caught a white horse and drove the gray horses 
back to the camp.^ 

" Let us go," he said to his brother. They mounted the horses and rode 
along. Their mother spoke to them, "My boys, take off that yellow saddle 



1 JJccaiisi! ho musl ii.sf a white saddle, tlic informant explained. 



1*->191 C.oildard, White Mountain Apache Mijths and Tales. 107 

and put on a white one." Wlien they came riding l)ack where their mother 
was, a horse whinneyed. It sounded hke the voice of the gray stalhon that 
used to be his horse. Another horse whinneyed in this (hrection and the 
voice was Hke that of the sorrel mare. Tliey knew their horses when they 
whinneyed and one said to the other, " Brother, those are our horses whin- 
neying but we cannot do anything about it." ^ "Let us hurry," the other 
said. They rode toward the herd of horses but the horses started to run 
and the licrd broke uj). While they were looking they ran where their 
horses whinneyed. Their fly told them that the horses had already run 
into the enclosure and that the four doors were shut. They heard them 
•whinneying far awa\-. Their fly said the horses were already in their 
stable, but they still whinneyed. They drove the other horses near the 
camp. The older brother told the people to form in a line around the 
horses. He said they were going to stake out horses for them. The people 
replied that they had no ropes, that only the two brothers had them. They 
asked the brothers to make ropes for them. They were told to wait while 
they returned where the horses used to be. They told them that they 
would have ropes the next day. The I)rothers went in different directions, 
calling to each other. They met and sent their fly to the Sun because the 
people were without ropes. He told his brother to go back where he had 
been staying. He directed him also to take the bridle off and to leave the 
rope as it was, tied to the saddle. "When the Sun is in the middle of the 
sky we will dri^•e the horses back. Although it is late the Sun will be in 
the same place.' He (the Sun) may give us something," he said. 

The fly returned and reported : "Your horse was standing behind him. 
He sat watching where the stallions were fighting each other. He kept 
looking at them and then he went a little way." 

The Sun's disk was yellow as at sunset. He looked down four times. 
The yellow beams struck under his raised knees. From the other side 
they also streamed toward him. Nothing happened, and he got up and 
went to his horse. When he put his foot in the stirrup and mounted, ropes 
M'ere tied in four places to the saddle strings where there had been no ropes 
before. Both saddles were that way. They both mounted together and 
their horses pawed the ground and snorted. He rode back to the camp, 
loping, and the other horses strung out behind him. The other brother 
was running his horse on the other side. They stopped near the camp. 
The horses were all lined up facing him. He called to the one on horseback, 
" Come here." He rode up to him and he asked how many ropes there were. 

> The whinneying was heard from the top of the sky. 

- The conception of time passmg wliile the Sma stood still is fairly difficult for a people 
without timepieces. 



lOS Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXIV, 

The other rephed he did not know for lie had not counted them, and inquired 
of the other liow many ropes he had. The first speaker rephed that he (hd 
not know. Tlien the younger brother said the other should catch the 
horses for them and lead them out while he remained on his horse where 
he was. The other brother then rode among the horses and caught a mare. 
He led the horse out and gave the rope to one of the men. He rode back 
among the horses and caught a stallion. When he had caught six horses, 
the ropes were all gone. He beckoned with his hand and his Ijrother rode 
up to him. "Had you only six ropes?" he asked. "Yes, I only had six 
and I have caught six horses. Now, take your turn and I will remain here 
on horseback." The second brother caught the horses and reported that 
he had chosen the better horses. The horses were all good but some of them 
looked to be small. 

They told the people there were only seven saddles and that so many of 
the men might have saddles, but that the others must ride around bareback 
for the present. He told them that some time they might have saddles 
because the Sun knew of their need and he himself knew it. He instructed 
them to tie out their horses close by. He said if they heard the horses 
nickering they would know that the stallions were covering the mares. 
They would also know the colts when they were foaled. If they turned 
their horses loose they might not know them. The ropes he said would 
guard their horses for them. They would now drive back the other horses 
while those who had received horses staked theirs out. 

He drove the horses away and hung his bridle up. The other one he 
laid in another direction. He took the saddle and everything else back to 
the camp. They came back to the camp in the middle of the night but 
they did not know it was night because the Sun had not moved. 

When two days had passed two men came. There were many horses 
where they had passed. They reported that something was running around 
the other side of this large mountain. They did not know what it was, nor 
to whom it belonged. They wondered what was meant and sent their 
fly to find out. He flew away and came back almost immediately. He said 
it was true. On the ridge beyond the mountain he saw horse tracks and a 
trail with dust as fine as flour. 

One of the brothers asked his mother to cook for the men quickly. It 
was while they were eating that the fly reported. "Fly back there," he 
directed him. He told the visitors to remain, for they were no doubt tired. 
They went back where the bridle was lying. They took oft' the rope and 
hung it toward the east. They spoke to the bridle asking that the horses, 
wherever they went, should come back together during the night. 

The visitors were as the two brothers had been. They had no eye- 



1919.] Goddurd, White Mountain Apache Mytha and Tales. 109 

lashes or eyebrows. Their ears were round and their heads were smooth. 
There were webs between their fingers and toes. When they were asked 
whence they came they rephed that they had assumed there were people 
hving somewhere. Their own people had been killed off by something until 
only the tw^o were left. They saved themselves at night by digging a 
trench and coA'ering it with a large rock. When they started away, one 
of the brothers asked where they were going. They replied that they did 
not know where they were going but preferred not to stay where they were. 
They said they did not like to be with many peoples. They preferred stay- 
ing there with their present hosts. Naiyenezgani asked them to tell their 
story during the night. 

When night came, he called four men to come and listen to what the 
visitors were about to tell. He asked each of the four men to cjuestion the 
guests. "What is the country called where you live and what kind of thing 
is killing your people?" he asked. "Tell us about it." 

"The place where we live is called danncjocjal, plain. Something has 
been killing our kinsfolk. It has been killing people everywhere on the 
earth. We do not know what to do," one of them replied. Naiyenezgani 
told another of the men to question them. He asked if it were really true 
that they had been living in that place, saying he did not believe what the 
other had said. One of the guests replied that it was true. He said they 
did not know how to tell untruths and that it was not right to do so. " While 
we are here in camp it will kill someone." He added, "I have finished." 
The second questioner said, "Why did you tell us this? We are uneasy 
about it." They replied that they were afraid of it and therefore came there 
where they intended to live with them. 

Naiyenezgani called upon a third man to question them. "Why did 
\()U Iea^'e a trail for them?" he inquired. "When your kinsfolk were all 
killed, why did you come to us leaving a trail?" The same man spoke 
again. He directed that the next day a sweatbath should be prepared 
that they should take a bath with the two visitors. 

" You said the horses had gone far away. I presume they have already 
come together again," he said. "These some-kind-of -things you said were 
going away we call horses. That is all I have to say." "These two will 
speak to you," one of the company said. 

" I cannot promise that I will kill that thing which has been killing your 
people. Hurry to build the sweatlodge he mentioned," Tobatc'istcini said. 
"Make the sweatbath: we are going for the horses," he added. 

During the night the horses had come together. One bridle was lying 
at the east and the other at the west. They told the horses they must all 
stay there together. When the brothers returned the sweatlodge was built 



110 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Naiural History. [Vol. XXIV, 

and the stones were on the fire. Tobatc'istcini (hrected that the men should 
stand in hne while four of them should go into the bath four times. He said 
that wlien they had eome out the fourth time the visitors would be like 
themselves. "You l)uilt this sweatbath, but it belongs to the Sun," he 
told them. When he (Naiyenezgani) went in with them the fourth time he 
asked them where the thing was living which was killing them. The visi- 
tors replied that he lived down this way, pointing toward the west. "The 
one that has killed all of our people has something long for a weapon," he 
added. Naiyenezgani said, "Well, he has been killing you." When they 
came out the fourth time they all looked alike. They ate and after the meal 
the brothers told them all to remain there while they went to yonder white 
mountain ridge to look beyond. He looked at the Sun. 

They landed far away on the mountain ridge.^ Beyond that mountain 
the\' went to another. There was a plain on which a mountain was stand- 
ing. They landed next on that mountain. Tobatc'istcini said, " Brother, 
is the dangerous thing feared by you? If you are afraid, I am afraid. If 
you are not afraid neither am I afraid. You are the elder, I am the 
younger." 

A man was walking in a \alley without brush. He was the one who 
kills people. They sent their fly to look over the body of their enemy, to 
examine his ears, his eyes, and his mouth. The fly flew to the man and 
alighted on his ear. W'hen he alighted on his nose the man said, " It is not 
just you. You smell like a man." 

The fly reported that they could not come up to the man, for while he 
walked in one direction he could see behind because he had eyes in the 
back of his head. He had no eyes in front. " He has something long in his 
hand with which he kills peoplex When I sat on his nose he told me I 
smelled like people," the fly reported. "He is the same sort of a person 
that you are." The fly told them to go around to a certain gap in the ridge, 
where the monster was accustomed to pass, and stand side by side. He 
promised to let them know when the enemy approached. When the 
monster walkefl along, the fly came back where the brothers were standing 
side by side and said, " He is coming up here very close. If he stops here 
you nmst cut his head off. Now, you shoot him," he said. "If he sees 
anyone he makes a sweep with his long weapon and kills the person even 
a long way off." 

The man cani(> close to them and stopped. One of them shot him and 
the other cut his head off. He stood just as he was before. Thev shot 



I This mothotl of travclint; implies lightning, rainbow or a similar supernatural method, 
in tills ca.su said to bo saubuanis. 



1919.1 Coddard, White Mnunlnin Apnchc Myths and Tales. Ill 

again and out his head off again. The liead fell but came hack on again. 
One of them shot at him the third time and the other cut his neck off again. 
Tlicn one of them ran around in front of him and shot him in the heart. 
This time his flesh flew apart and was scattered over considerable space. 
The flesh was quivering. That which they killed was called Naiye'. " That 
is why he named you Naiyenezgani," ^ their fly said. "Because you and 
Tobatc'istcini both will kill dangerous beings your father named you that." 
"You did this in his presence. He was looking at you and prevented 
tlic monster's making any mo\'e against you. He gave you the weapons 
with which you killed him. He did it for the good of mankind. Turn the 
liead oAXT and look at its face," their fly told them. They turned him over 
and looked at his face. His face was like anyone's but he also had eyes 
in the back of his head.- No one could attack him from in front, and he had 
eyes to see behind himself also. His knife was sharp and the handle was 
good. "Let us take the knife to convince the people. If we do not have 
the knife, they will not believe us if we claim we have killed the Naiye' 
which used to kill people," one of them said. 

On their return they landed on the white mountain ridge and returned to 
the camp. \Yh(Mi they had returned, Naiyenezgani directed that all the 
people, including the children, should come together. He asked his mother, 
because the people were assembling, to spread down a buckskin and to 
place on it the arrows, his own weapon, and that of the slain Naiye'. He 
asked the people to gather around it. He called the two visitors, asking 
them to come to a designated spot. He told his brother to stand in a 
certain position and said that he himself would stand in another place. He 
said that he would address the people and told his brother to do the same. 
" I am telling you this because .you are seeing what you have not seen 
before. You see today what our father gave us. Now you speak to them," 
he said to his brother. 

Tobatc'istcini spoke as follows, " My name is Tobatc'istcini. Our father 
gaA-e us these things lying here. A being called Naiye' was using that 
weapon over there to kill people. He had killed all the people except the 
two who are sitting over there. We killed him." "You, Naiyenezgani, 
speak to them again," he said to his brother. 

"We started from here and we went up to the top of yonder mountain. 
We went on to the top of a mountain standing beyond that. A small moun- 
tain ^ stands beyond that and we went up to its top. There we saw a man 
walking in a valley. He ^ went to him for us and returned. 'When he 

' The name is Naiye', "a dangerous monster," and -nezgani, "lie who kills." 

■ It is said above that he had no eyes in front. 

'■' "Moixntain, its child." 

' He did not mention liis fly by name. 



112 ^ Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXIV, 

walks he is hliiid, but lie has eyes in the hack of his head,' he reported to us. 
' He kills tlie people who are slipping; up behind him.' Now he will not kill 
anyone. We shall live safely." He took up what used to be his knife and 
carried it around for the people to see. The man's blood was on it, and it 
was fearful to look at. "There is no place to take hold of it. I will take 
hold of it here," he said. "Do not look at this which used to belong to 
Naiye'. It is dangerous. Have a meal and then go home. Look after 
our horses well." 

Their mother asked why the two who had come to them should not 
accompany them where the horses were. They went with them where the 
horses were. "Catch the sorrel gelding when you want to. You can tell 
it by the white spot on its shoulder," he told one of them. To the other 
he said, "You maj- catch this black one with a w^hite spot on its forehead. 
If we are away anywhere saddle them and ride them around among the 
horses and through the camp. The horses look as if they were m'ean, as 
if they had never had a rope on them, but they will not misbehave, they are 
not mean and will not shy." They started back and when they came to the 
camp again they ate. 

Two days after they had killed the Xaiye' they said they were going 
in a certain direction and that it might be late when they returned. They 
went up to the top of a small sharp-toppefl mountain. They looked at the 
Sun and, when it came up, yellow beams streamed out from the Sun's 
disk. His breath took the shape of a rainbow. The sunbeams fell to the 
ground over them. " It must be there," he said. They started and landed 
on a mountain top. From there they went to another and from that one 
to a projecting ridge. Beyond that was a plain on which stood a blue moun- 
tain. They landed on that. It seems that those who were killing the 
people lived at a distance from each other and the people were living in the 
center of the world. The killers of the people were working towards each 
other. 

The two brothers stood on the mountain side by side. They were made 
like their father. You could hardly see their bodies. They were killing 
out the Xaiye'. "Fly over the country and hunt him up. He is living 
somewhere," one of them said to the fly. It flew off and went around them 
in a circle. The next time it went around in a smaller circle. He (the 
monster) was coming l)ehind them. He had eyes looking both ways, four 
eyes. He held something crooked. He stopped and looked carefully 
behind himself. He did not look in front. He could look straight up and 
could see people down below. The fly looked liim all over, at his eyes, his 
ears, his nose, and his face. "You arc a burr," he said to the fly. The fly 
thought he said he was going to catch him. He flew between the man's 



1919.] Goddard, White Mouidain Apache Myths and Tales. 113 

legs and returned where the brothers were sitting. "Did you say Naiye'? 
You have come to a dangerous phice," the fly said to them. "As he walks 
along he looks carefully Ijehind himself. When he stops he looks up and 
he can see the people who are l)elow.^ He carries a long, crooked object 
with which he makes a sweep at people he sees in the distance and catches 
them with his hook." ^ 

The fl\' was sent again to find out from which point the monster could 
be attacked with the best chances for success. They saw him walking 
in the distance and then they saw him standing where he was accustomed 
to come up the ridge. The fly reportefl that was a good place for the attack. 
The brothers addressed each other. " What is the matter with you, Toba- 
tc'istcini?" Xaiyenezgani asked. "You are the leader and should speak 
first," Tol)atc'istcini replied. "Very well, you did not answer me. We 
will attack him. I will cause large hail with thirty-two points to fall on 
liim. What are you going to do?" Naiyenezgani asked. "I will cause hot 
rain to fall on him," was the reply. 

They went to him where he was walking. The sky made a noise and it 
bt^gan to rain. The two brothers came toward him behind this rain. He 
put his hand to the top of his head. It was hot rain which was falling. 
They could see him, l)ut he could not see them. " Let him walk between 
you," the fly directed. He was already exhausted with the hot rain and 
the hail. Naiyenezgani stood here and Tobatc'istcini there. The nionster 
walked here saying, " It is a bad time. I, too, where I am, it is a bad place." 
As he walked one of the l>rothers raised his bow and brought it down again, 
shooting. His companion cut off the monster's head. It came back 
immediately as it was l)efore. They shot and cut his head oft" again. He 
fell three ways. They did the same thing to him the fourth time and he 
spread out like water. "There shall not be those who kill," Naiyenezgani 
said. " This is the way I do to Naiye'. Just let him float here in his blood. 
The people will live happily on the earth. I have done well by them. Get 
ready, brother, we will go back. We will take the weapon with which he 
has been killing people." He rolled this weapon up into a coil and put it 
in his blanket. "Come, we will go back," he said. 

They came back in the manner they went, landing on- the successive 
mountains until they reached the camp. They danced a war dance near 
the camp. They danced, holding up the weapon they had taken. 
"Mother, we are hungry, hurry and cook for us," they said to her. When 
they had eaten they asked their mother to assemble the people and to ask 
the visitors also to come. She told the people to assemble, saying that her 

» Probably means he can see people who are on the opposite side of a hill. 



11-i Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXIV, 

sons must have seen something- (hiring the day tliey had been away which 
they would tell them about. When the people had come together the 
weapon they had brought back was lying there, not as yet untangled. 

" We killed one like the other one. We both did it, but I could have 
done it by myself, if I had been alone. If he had been alone he too could 
have done it by himself," Naiyenezgani said. "We both attacked liim 
because we could do it quickly. We killed him quickh' because our father 
helped us. If it had been one of you, you could have done nothing with 
this one that we call Naiye'. He would have killed you right away and 
eaten you up. He had killed all the people who lived with these two men, 
and just now he was coming for you. Before we had known it, he would 
have killed us all. There are no people lining on the edges of the earth. 
We are all that are left. He killed people this way. Suppose that person 
should come (ni you, he would kill you this way." He threw the weapon 
to a distant bush. It went around the tree and it was as if it had been cut 
off. "He was killing people thus. Now we will live well and no one will 
bother us. A man is going around the earth in one day and he will tell 
us about it." ^ Tobatc'istcini started away and his mother spoke to him. 
" My son, put on this belt," she said, offering him the one the Sun's wife 
had given her. " I am going around from here but today it is late, I will 
go tomorrow," he said. They went to bed. "Take good care of things 
and do not be afraid of anything," Tobatc'istcini said. 

\Mien it was daylight their mother prepared a meal for them and they 
ate. "Come back safely, my son, as the people said to you," the mother 
said. " I am going, but I do not know when I shall come back," Tobatc'is- 
tcini replied. He started, telling them to watch for him on a certain moun- 
tain point. "I will be back about noon." 

He started away, traveling with a blue flute which had wings.' He went 
with this from place to place and was back home before long. He went 
entirely around the border of the world on which people were living. The 
belt was a blue flute. He thought with it four ways and looked into it 
four ways. Heforc^ noon a light rain fell on the projecting mountain. 
That cleared off and then he canK> laughing. " It was not far, only so large," 
he said, joining the tips of his forefinger and his thumb. "Have you your 
property ready?" he asked. "Have you collected everything that is ours? 
Tomorrow we will giAe out the horses, one apiece to each of you. We shall 
not give out horses again. Bring the horses near to the camp." 



I These monsters are not those in the usual versions. The brmging of trophies and the 
narratives remind one of countinii coup in the Plains. The Xavajo versions also mention 
the bringing back of trophies. 

' One of the recognized methods of rapid locomotion. P. 20 above. 



1919.] (loddard, White Mountain Apache Mytha and Tales. 115 

They brouulit the saddles, the bridles, the halters, tlie ropes, and tlie 
l>hinkets. They two went where the horses were. They caught some of 
the horses and saddhMl them, and drove the other horses near the camp 
where they herded them. They called the people to assemble and when 
they came caught horses for them. He gave away ten horses in all. " I 
will give you no more horses," he said. "Tomorrow we will go different 
ways." ^ He dro\'e the horses back where they stayed. "Stake out our 
horses nearby and leave the saddles on them all night," he said. "This is 
all. You may go in any direction you like." "This way," pointing to the 
east; "this way," south; "this way," west; or "this way," north. "We 
are going over here where the end of the world is," some of them said. 
Others said they were going to the end of the world in this direction. In 
this manner, each party chose a location. 

\Mien they had finished, the\' asked the brothers which way they were 
going. The;\' replied that they were going to dri\e their horses to the top 
of yonder mountain {Iritsanhlai). "Take good care of your horses. Look 
after them for twehc days and then they will be accustomed to yon. Now 
\ou may go. ^^'e are going also." He tlro\e his horses away saying, 
" None of you are going with us. I thought some of you would go with us. 
You are onl;s' gi\ing us back our mother. Go on, motht*r, let your horse 
lead." 

His mother inquired which way she should lead them. "Go on, go on, 
I tell you," he replied. She rode towards the east. Soon a little light was 
to I)e seen under the horse. They went higher and higher until they came 
to the mountain he spoke of. The^- rode their horses beside hers. "Wait, 
mother/' he said and rode back. "Keep on down this mountain. It 
is good country in this basin. We will li\e here," he said. They talked 
together. " "^'ou unsaddle over there, you o\'er there, and you o\'er there. 
We will watch the horses." 

"You ma\- have my yucca fruit which lies on the face of Turnl)ull 
Mountain." - 

Naiyenezgani.^ 

Ivong ago the Sun set and, there in the west, he became the son-in-law 
of Toxastinhn (Water-old-man) whose daughter he married. She, who was 
to become the wife of the Sun, built a house witli its door facing the sunrise. 



1 The dispersion of the tribes, a conmion incident in origin myths. 

2 The formula for the completion of a narrative. 

' Told by the father of Franlv Crockett, Feiiruary, 1910. Franli's father was of the 
Bissaxa clan and was about sixty years old in 1910. He was still a growing youth when he 
left the White River country. 



116 Anthropological Papers American Museum of A'aiural Historu. [Vol. XXIV, 

She sat in the doonvay facing the rising sun from which the red rays 
streamed toward her. These rays entered her and since her period was 
about to occur she became pregnant as a result. 

When the child was born, its hands and feet were webbed. There was 
no hair on its head and it hat! no nose. When the boy was grown up he 
asked where his father lived. His mother replied that his father lived 
where one could not go, for the Sun was his father. The boy asked again 
where he lived. His mother said he lived at the sunrise, but that one could 
not go there. The boy then said that he would go there and set out on the 
journey. 

He came where the cliffs come down of themsehes. The.\- moA'ed in 
front of him. The lightning shot across with him. Beyond that place he 
came to the mountain of cactus which formed a dark barrier in front of him. 
There a black whirlwind twisted through for him so that he passed by. 
From there he went on where the mountain of mosquitoes stood like a black 
ridge in front of him. A female rain fell for him and the wings of the mos- 
quitoes became damp; then he passed over. From there he went on where 
the mountains moved up and down toward each other. He jumped away 
from them and then toward them, but in no way could he get through. 
Black-measuring-worm, whose back is striped with lightning, bent over it 
with hini.i 

He walked on toward the house of the Sun. As he was going along, near 
sundown, a spider drew its thread across below the boy's knee and tripped 
him. He got up and went back, but fell again at the same place. Wonder- 
ing why he had fallen, he startefl on again, when he saw the head of Spider- 
old-woman projecting from her hole so far (three inches) away. "Grand- 
child, where are you going?" she asked. He replied that he was going to 
the house of his father, the Sun. She told him to come into her house 
instead. He rci)lied that the opening was too small. When assured that 
it was large enougli, he went in. She told him one could not go to the" Sun. 
The spider girls were lying there without skirts or shirts. They lay with 
tlie head of one toward the feet of the next. Spider-woman asked what was 
the piece of cloth tied to his shirt. He gave it to her and she worked with 
it all night; and the next morning each girl had a shirt and a skirt. She 
made them from the young man's piece of cloth. - 

When the Sun rose, Spider-old-woman went out-of-doors. "It is not 



' These in part are the oljstacles mentioned in the Navajo account. They are overcome 
in a difrerent manner. Matthews, 109-110. 

2 Spider-woman is of consideralile importance in the mytliology of the Hot>i. Voth, 
2, 11. The Navajo account (Mattliews, 109) omits the clothing-making episode. Spider- 
woman is the originator of spiiming, Franciscan Fathers, 222. She is sometimes said to be 
the mother of the Sun and therefore Naiyenezgani's paternal grandmother. 



1919.] Goddard, White Ahmntain Apache Myths and Tales. 117 

yet time, my grandson," she said. She held up five fingers horizontally 
and said it would he time when the Sun shone over them.^ When the time 
came to go, they set out toward tlie house of the Sun. He came to the front 
of the house where there were twelve doors and all of them were shut. 
Without anyone opening a door for him, he came to Sun's wife. "What 
sort of a person are you?" she asked. He replied he had come to see his 
father. The woman warned him that no one was allowed around there. 
She rolled him up in a blanket,- which she tied with lightning, and hid him 
by the head of the bed. 

When the sun set, he heard the noise of the Sun's arriA'al. The Sun 
came inside his house. "I do not see anyone," he said, "but from the 
mountain where I go down some man had gone along." "You tell m.e you 
do not have love afi'airs where you go around. This morning your son 
came here." She went to the head of the l)ed, undid the lightning with 
which he was tied up and took the boy out. The Sun saw it was his boy. 
There were twelve pipes in which tobacco was l)urned. The Sun fixed a 
smoke for him in one of these. It was not the Sun's proper tobacco, but a 
kind that killed whoever smoked it. The boy drew on the pipe just once 
and the tobacco was burned out. The Sun prepared another pipeful, which 
was gone when the boy had drawn on the pipe twice. He filled a third pipe; 
this time the boy drew on it three times and the tobacco was consumed. 
The last time the pipe was filled, the boy drew four times l)efore the tobacco 
was burned out. 

Toward the east, there was a blazing fire of black i/aheckon into which 
the Sun threw the boy. He turned into a downy feather and landed in 
front of his father who expressed his surprise. There was a fire of blue 
yahcckon toward the south into which the boy was next thrown. He again 
turned into a feather and landed in front of his father. The fire toward the 
west was of yellow i/abrclcoti from which the boy escaped in the same manner. 
Finally, the boy was thrown into a white fire of yahcckon which l)lazed up 
in the north. He escaped in the same manner as before. Each time when 
the boy was thrown in, the fire had been poked with lightning of the cor- 
responding color. 

When the boy had successfully withstood this last test, the Sun directed 
his wife to prepare a sweatbath. She did this by spreading four blankets of 
cloud : black, blue, yellow, and white. She put on the four blankets from 
the four sides in proper rotation. The Sun went in with all his boys. While 
they w ere in the bath, the skin between the boy's fingers and toes was pulled 



I An Apache method of indicating time when the Sun is near tlie horizon. 

- The blanket was probably a cloud. The word caziz ought to mean "sun-sack." 



1 18 Aidhropolocjkul Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXIV, 

back and joints made in his finj,^ers. He was also provided with hair, eye- 
brows, eyelashes, nose, and ears. Hair was placed on his body and nails 
supplied for his fingers and toes. Counting this boy, the Sun had twelve 
sons with whom he formed a line. He then asked his wnfe to find him 
in the line, but this she was unable to do because the\' all looked alike, she 
said. 

The Sun then placed a gun and a panther-skin quiver on a shelf and 
asked his son to choose which he would ha^'e. .\fter sighting the gun, he 
concluded he did not like it. He put the ciui\er o^-er his shoulder and took 
out two arrows. When he tried these, he hit the target in the center. He 
chose the panther-skin quiver saying he liked it.*^ All the other sons of the 
Sun had guns. The Sun had them shoot at each other in fun. Tliose 
who hafl guns beat the boy who had arrows and drove him off. 

On one side, horses were being made and on the other deer. The one 
who was in charge of making these is named Iltca'naiit'ohn. 

They put, for him, a light brown mountain, inside of which, cattle, goats, 
sheep, pigs, horses, mules, and donkeys were living. All these are the food 
of white people. In this mountain also were guns, blankets, and all kinds 
of metals. 

On the other side he put, for him, a mountain on which century plants 
were growing with their yellow flower stalks standing all around the edges. 
On this mountain, too, were sunflowers, yellow w'ith blossoms, cactus, 3'ucca, 
piiion, oaks, junipers, the fruit of all of which was perpetually ripe. All the 
other wild vegetable foods of the Indians grew there also. The moimtain 
was always yellow with flowers. 

The Sun asked the boy which of these two mountains he would choose. 
He decided to take the one which was yellow with flowers where fruit was 
always ripe. He did not care for the light brown mountain w^hich stood 
toward the east. He announced that the yellow^ mountain would be his 
and would belong in the future to the Indians. 

They then opened a door in the side of the brown mountain and drove 
out cattle, goats, sheep, pigs, horses, donkeys, and mules. These became 
tlie propertA- of your white people's nation. The Sun's son asked that some 
horses be given him. The Sun reminded him he had asked for the other 
mountain, and w^anted to know why he had not then asked for horses. 

From the east, mirage people rounded up some horses for him. The red 
dust ().' the round-up cosered the ground. "Tiiere are no horses," the Sun 
said. Tlic boy asked again for horses only to be told he should have asked 
before when he chose between the two mountains. He asked, that notwith- 



Ilad Naiyeiu'zgani taken the gim Indiaus would have Ix-en armed as white men are. 



1919.] Goddard, White Mountain Apache Myths and Tales. 119 

standing, he be given some horses. The Sun took up a rope and led 
back a chestnut stalHon from the east. He tied the horse which stood 
pawing the ground and nickering. The boy rode back on it to the place 
where I suppose Toxastin and his grandmother Hved. He rode back in a 
single day and tied his horse. The horse kept nickering and pawing the 
earth all the time; he would not graze and the boy was not satisfied. He 
rode back to the house of the Sun, took off the rope; and the horse ran off 
toward the east kicking up his heels. 

The boy told his father, the Sun, that the stallion he had given him was 
not satisfactory, and that he had come to ask for a different horse. His 
father went away and returned with two horses, a stallion and a mare. 
"These are what you want, I suppose," the Sun said, and guxe the l:)oy a 
rope, a halter, a saddle blanket, and a saddle. 

The boy led the horse back to the place where Toxastin, liis grandmother, 
and his mother lived. He led the horses back to a place called Cotton- 
wood-branches-hang-down. To the south, blue cottonwood branches 
hung down; to the west, yellow cottonwood branches hung down; to the 
north, white cottonwood branches hung down. The place was nametl the 
center of the earth. The saddle was placed at the east; the saddle blanket 
at the south; the halter, at the west; and the rope, at the north. 

In the dry stream bed to the east, black burdocks grew; to the south, 
blue burdocks grew; to the west, yellow burdocks; and to the north, white 
burdocks. He turned out the two horses here to the east. P]ach time the 
Sun's son came back there, he found the two horses playing. After four 
days, he drove the horses up the valley a little w^ay four times. When he 
went the fourth day to see them he found the tracks of a colt. 

That cottonwood tree stood in the center. On the east side of it a 
black stallion stood; on the south side, a blue stallion; on the west side, a 
yellow stallion; on the north side, a white stallion. Horses were walking 
aroimd in the valleys to the east, south, west, and north. Thus there came 
to be horses here on the earth. 

The Placing of the Earth. ^ 

They did not put this large one (the earth) that lies here in place before 
my eyes. 

The wind blew from four directions. When there was no way to make 
the earth lie still. Gopher, who lives under the earth, put his black ropes 

' Told in 1910 by a very dignified man, C. G. 2, of about sixty years. He is a leader of 
the Naiyenezgani songs used for adolescent girls. 



120 Atilhn)i>ol(i(iiail rapcrs Aiiirriain M u.-<(Hiii ajWdluntl Uishtnj. [\<)1. XXIV, 

under tlie oartli. II(mt his black roi)e lies under it; here his bhic rope; here 
liis yellow rope; and here his white rope. 

()\(-r here (east) they made a black whirlwind stand with black metal 
inside ol' it. Here (south) a blue whirlwind and blue metal were placed; 
here (w(>s1 ) a yellow whirlwind and yellow metal; and here (north) a white 
whirlwind and wliite inelal. With these standini;' on all sides, the earth 
came to its proper place and was stable. 

"Now that this is as it should be, what shall we do ne.xt?" said one of 
them. "To what purpose have we had such a hard time making this earth 
lie properly which otluTwise would have been unstable?" Then he be^m 
to ])at it with his hand. "Let a black cloud move about sprinkling," he 
said. 

" There will be life from this; the world will be alive from the dampness," 
he said. "They did well by us, what shall we do? Now thank you," 
llu\\ said. 

The people had nothing. The owe who was in charge (the Sun) ; that 
one only was walking around. " It will turn out well with him walking 
about," they said. They looked well at the one they meant. "That one 
is the Sun," tliey .said. "We did it in the presence of that one walking 
about." 

Then Ests'uimadli said she would do something unseemly. Thinking 
she would do it when> the Sun first shone in the morning, she seated herself 
there. Slu^ was doing this only that people might live. There were no 
people and she thought tluTc should be many and slie did it for that reason. 

Sh(> b(>came pregnant. She and the one walking around were the only 
ones who understood about generation. She gave birth to a child there 
where she sat. She Mcnt back to the child earl\- each morning for four 
morning-s and on the fourth, \\\v child walked back with her. He was 
entirely dressed as lie walked back with her. 

"It is not good that there should be only this one," she said. "It will 
be well for me to do an improiier thing again." She sat repeatedly where 
the water was drii)i)ing and became pregnant again. She gave bulh a 
second time to a child. " I will do as I did before," she said. She went to 
her child <>arly each morning for four mornings. The fourth morning after 
he was born, the child returnt-d with her. He was dressed in buckskin, 
shoes and all. 

She had givi^n birth to two children. The latter one she named Toba- 
tc'istcini and the first one Bilnajnollije.' They were the children of this one 
(the Sun). 



' The liglitiiiug strikes willi him. ovidoiUly a poetic name. 



1910.] (loddard, While Mountaitt. Apache Mylh.^ ami TaleH. 121 

A black water \e.s.sel by tlie door of the sun's house was fieckcd with 
sunshine. He caused dark Hghtning to dart umler it from four directions. 
I le caused it to thunder out of it in four directions. He caused it to thunder 
in four rhrections. He caused male rain to fall in four directions. He 
caused fruits to stand on the earth in lines pointing- in four directions. 
"Thanks," they .said, "he has treated us well." 

A yellow water \-essel b\- Ests'unnadlehi's door was flecked with liglit. 
She caused yellow li<^htninj^ to pass under it from four directions. She 
caused it to thunder from it toward four directions. She caused female 
rain to fall four times iti four directions. She caused fruits to stand in 
lines converginfij from four directions. "Thanks, she has treated us well," 
they said. "Because of her, things are well with us." "She caused the 
wind to agitate the grass from four directions for us," they said. "With 
nf) trouble for us it comes to its place. The earth will remain well for us," 
they said. "It is still the same way for us that it was long ago. We are 
thankful yet." 

"Mother, where does our father li\e?" the Ijoys asked. "Do not ask, 
for he liAcs in a (Jangerous place," Ests'unnadlehi replied. "Do not say 
he lives in a dangerous place but show us where it is, for we are going there," 
they replied. "If you go you must travel only by night. During the day 
one must sit still," she told them. She said this, for she meant for them to 
make the journey without being seen by the Sun. 

They wondered why she told them to go only at night and resolved to 
travel by day. They came near where the ground was black with mosqui- 
toes that had teeth of hccdilxil, and there was no way to pass through them, 
'i'hey caused a rain, yellow with sunshine, to fall on them and wet their 
wings so that they stuck to the trees. By this means, they passed beyond 
them. "This is why she said it is dangerous," they said to each other. 
They came where the earth was crossed with a stripe of cactus which had 
si)ines of bccdilvU. A black whirlwind with a core of hccdilxil passed, 
twisting through the cactus; the l)oys got by it. "This was surely the 
bad place of which our mother told us," they said. As they were going 
on toward their father's house, they came to sand whicli, if one stepped on 
it, rolled back with him. There was no way to get tiirough it. A big 
black measuring worm Inning his back striperl with a rainl)ow, Ixnit him- 
self OA-er the sand for them and they crossed over. They were now approach- 
ing their destination when they found the house surrounded by thirty-two 
lakes which could not be avoided. 

A turquoise Ijird sat in the ear of one of them and directed them on 
their way. The Sun's wife saw the two men pass through, avoiding the four 
bodies of water that surrounded the house. She concealed them under 



122 Anihropologiml Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXIV, 

the bed wliich stood in the house. When the Sun returned, he saw the 
tracks of two men and asked where they had gone. The Sun's wife rephed 
that they were not there. "You are always saying you have made no 
visits and yet your two sons come here," she said. The Sun directed that 
they should come to him. They sat facing him. He had tobacco hanging 
in sacks in four places. It was black tobacco which grew on stalks of 
hecdilxU. He had a turquoise pipe with thirty-two ^ holes for the tobacco 
to burn in. With this tobacco, he killed those who were not really his 
children. They heard him draw on the pipe once and then he tapped it 
on something and the ashes rolled out. "Fix me a smoke, that is why 
I came," one of the boys said. 

They two went to the sack which was hanging on this side. It was filled 
with large blue tobacco which grew on stalks of hccdoVije. He filled a pipe 
with thirty-two bowls and lighted it again. Having drawn on the pipe, he 
passed it to them. He heard them draw on the pipe once and then the 
ashes fell out. 

"Prepare a smoke for me, for I came for that purpose," one of the boys 
said again. When the other kinds, yellow, and white had been tried from 
the remaining world-quarters, one of the boys produced some tobacco and a 
pipe made of clay with a hole through it. "This is my pipe and my 
tobacco," the bo\' announced. "Why did you not tell me before that you 
had tobacco?" the Sun said. He had chairs placed and took a seat be- 
tween the two boys. The three looked just alike. "Come, Djingona'ai,^ 
move yourself," the Sun's wife said, so ]that she might distinguish him from 
the others. "They are surely my children," the Sun declared. "What 
do you desire?" he asked them. The boys said they had come to hear 
him ask that. The Sun urged them to ask for what they wished without 
dela\' as he had many things. 

The Sun had domesticated animals in four corrals on four sides of his 
house. He had four kinds which were bad. They were bear, coyote, panther, 
and wolf, of which one is afraid. He led a bear from the eastern corral, 
remarking that this was probably the sort they meant, that it was his pet. 
The boys refused it, saying they had come for his horse. In turn he led 
animals from corrals at the south and west which w^ere refused each time 
on the achice of the monitor that sat in the ear of one of the boys. The 
Sun pretended he had no other horse, that he was poor. The monitor 
urged them to persist in their request, saying that the Sun could not refuse. 
He finally led to them one of the horses which was walking around uncon- 

' It was explained that four was the real number, thirty-two being presumably a cere- 
monial or poetic exaggeration. 
' "Goes by day," the Sun. 



1919.] Goddard, White Mountain Apache Myths and Tales. 123 

fined. He was just skin and bones. The rope also was poor. "Did you 
ask for this one?" the Sun said. "That is the one," they replied. The 
Sun told them the horse could not travel far, but the boys said that was the 
animal they wanted. 

He gave them the horse with the admonition that they must not let 
l^sts'unnadlehi see it or she would send them away with it, it looked so 
bad. The boys assured him it would be all right. He replied that she 
would be surprised at least. He requested them to tell Ests'unnadlehi 
that he, the Sun, always told the truth. He charged the two boys that 
the^' should not lie to each other. " This is a good day for you both," he 
told them. "Thank you, Ests'unnadlehi, my mother, thanks." "Thank 
you, Djingona'ai, my father. It is true that it is fortunate for us. It 
was for that reason you raised us," they said.'- 



The Adolescence Ceremony.- 

The Sun was the one who arranged the ceremony for unclean women. 
She (Ests'unnadlehi) sat thus on her knees and the red light from the sun 
shone into her. She was living alone. v 

\N'hen she becomes a w^oman they straighten her. The people stand 
in a line and sing while the drum is beaten. They dance four nights. 
They paint her with white clay that she may live a long time, and that her 
hair ma\- get white on one side of her head. They put up a cane with a 
curved top for her around which she is to run. At one side a basket stands 
in which there is tobacco and on the other side a basket containing corn. 

When she has run around the cane in its first position, it is put up again 
farther away, where she runs around it again and returns to the line of 
singers. Again, the cane and basket of corn are moved out and the girl 
runs around them. When she returns to the singers she dances, having a 
downy feather tied at the crown of her head. The cane is put up again and 
the basket of corn moved once more. The girl runs around them returning 
to the singers. This cane is said to be the sun's cane and the chief's cane. 

The corn is poured from the basket over the crown of the girl's head. 
The people all try to get a handful of the corn. After that, she throws 
the blankets in every direction and the people pick them up, saying, " May 
her blankets be many." They plant the corn and all say they raise large 
crops in consequence. 



1 This fragment of the culture-hero story having been told, the narrator refused to 
proceed, perhaps because he knew it had already been several times recorded. 

2 Told by Frank Crockett's father in part, and extended by Frank who was interpreting. 



124 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXIV, 

They prepare Gans and dance four nig:hts. They do not allow anyone 
to sleep durino; the dancing. 

The girl, Ests'unnadlehi, has a skirt and a shirt of dressed skin. The 
shirt is spoken of as fringed shirt and the skirt, a fringed skirt. 

When the Gans dance, the girl dances behind them. She does not 
sleep during the four nights. 

On the morning after the fourth night all the people gather around to 
insure good luck in the future. The sun's songs, the chief's songs, are 
sung and with them they dance. After the four nights they paint the 
girl white with gypsum mixed with water which is in a shallow basket. 
The girl stands here and a woman whose husband is rich in horses and 
other property stirs the gypsum and water with a hairbrush. She applies 
this white mixture to the girl's head, and brushes her downward until 
she is whitened all o\er. The girl then sprinkles the men, women, and 
children who stand around in a large circle. This is done that they may 
be fortunate in the future. If some of the white mixture falls on the hair, 
that person will haxe gray hair at that spot. 



The Migration of the Gans.^ 

They say they moved about from place to place under the cliffs. " We 
will move to a place where we will not die," they said. They went to a 
place halfway between the earth and sky, and lighted on a mirage. They 
were dying there too. They came back to this world. Wind and rain 
ceased. 

Mocking bird said he wanted to be chief. Gopher said he wanted to be 
<'hief. When someone remarked that the chief's eyes were small. Gopher 
was angry and went under the ground, taking with him the wind and rain. 

Hununing bird started over the earth, hunting in vain for the wind and 
rain. He came where Gopher had gone underground and went in there 
and came where the Gans were living. They had much corn and ripe crops. 
It rained there all the time. Humming bird came back and reported that 
he had been where there were many ripe crops and where rain fell all the 
time. He also said those who live there do not die. The Gans started 
to move down there and on their way came to a place called "Two- 
mountains-go-around-each-other-in-opposite-directions." Rocks, white 
iuid all colors, lie there, one above the other. The Indians^went there 
and came where the Gans were living. 

' Told by the father of Frank Crockett, February, 1910. 



1919.) doddard, White Mountain Apache Myths and Tales. 125 

A small mountain stood at the east and on it Black Gan stood every 
dawn and talked as a chief. When he had spoken as chief four mornings, 
they asked \vh\- lilack Gan was talking that way. MX the Gans came to- 
gether and he talked to them. " May one of your children remain here? " 
he asked. All the Gans said, " No. Our children are all going with us." 
Then Black Gan decided that one of his should stay. He left the young- 
est little girl, putting a turquoise water jar by her pillow. He covered 
this with earth. They started away where people do not die. His little 
girl returned to the place where her water jar had been put. While she 
was gone for it the others moved away and left her. 

Some Indians found the baby, who was running about crying, and took 
her to raise. When she was grown, she married, and gave birth to a hoy. 
Then Black Gan had a son-in-law and many people came to see him because 
he was Black Gan's son-in-law. They crowded into the house and kept 
saying, "Move over a little, Donaildihi." He, Eats-a-long-time-without- 
being-satisfied, moved over; and they kept coming in until the house was 
stretched over to one side. 

Black Gan's son-in-law lay down with one leg over the other, and called 
for the baby. When its grandmother brought it, he tossed it up and down 
on his chest and sang to it. When he was done playing with it, he called 
to them to take it again. 

After a time another boy was born. When they were both grown they 
were hunting birds and came where the Gans were living. When they 
returned, food was offered them in vain. They had eaten where the Gans 
lived while away, and would not eat on their return. 

A man fell sick. His eyes and mouth were crooked, as were also his 
arms and legs. The people were asking w^hat they should do about it. 
The man told the mother of the boys to prepare a deerskin which had no 
holes in it with a piece of turquoise fastened at the forehead. To the 
turciuoise he asked that downy feathers be tied. She directed that bacine 
with downy feathers be tied between the eyes. In addition tsdicet and 
yo}gai each with downy feathers were to be tied to the skin. She asked 
that the skin prepared thus be placed on the top of the feet of the 
children (Gan's grandchildren). 

When they put it on the foot of one of these boys, he kicked it to the other 
l)oy, who kicked it back. When this had been done four times one of tliem 
directed that wood be brought in, and they consented to give a dance for 
the sick man. They directed that all the people should come together and 
that the sick man should be brought to the dancing place. Preparations 
were also made there for the fire. "AH of you come here where we are 
going to sing," they announced. 



126 Anthrupological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [\'ol. XXIV, 

When they had come together they began to sing, the two grandsons of 
Black Gan acting as leaders. When they started to dance one of them 
stood up and made a speech. He told them they must not go away during 
the dance or something bad would happen to them. 

When they had sung four songs, the sound of a bull roarer was heard 
undergTound to the east, south, west, and north. The Gans ran there and 
formed in line around him (the sick man). The Gans came to the dance 
ground, and Black Gan shook himself by the side of the sick man. He took 
the sick man up and threw him over there. Then Brown Gan shook 
his body by the sick man and swayed from side to side. Then the 
Gan who has one side of his face covered, shook himself by the sick man 
and threw him over there. Next Red Gan swayed himself and took up 
the sick man and threw him over there. 

The Black Gan then went to the sick man and made his eyes good 
again. Brown Gan went to him and fixed his arms. The Gan whose 
face is half covered fixed his back. On this side (north) Red Gan restored 
his legs. The man was well again, and danced among the others. They 
danced four nights anfl the morning after, the Gans and men stood with 
their little fingers interlocked; first a man and then a Gan; a man and 
then a Gan ; a man and then a Gan. Thus they formed a circle, standing 
in a line alternating, with their little fingers interlocked. They danced 
until it grew light and then the dance began to move away toward the 
sunrise. Old men and old women were lying down nearby. The dancing 
people kept moving away toward the east. The old women and old men 
ran after them. They were dancing on the ground and then began to move 
up higher and higher in the air. The Indians ran after them but the In- 
dians who were dancing went up with the dance. They could hear the 
sound of the dancing up there and the songs. They nioA^ed away to the 
Sun. He sent them where they do not die. They are still living there, 
I suppose. They are the people who do not die. 

Releasing the Deer.^ 

Ganisk'ide - was tiie only one who owned deer. He was the only one who 
brought them home and who ate their flesh. He gave none of the meat to 
the people who lived near him. 

Ravens, who were then people, proposed that they make a puppy and 



1 Told by the father of Frank Crockett. 
This is a very widely distributed tale. The owner of the animals is usually Raven or 
Crow. See this series, vol. 8, 212^; Russell, 259; Wissler and Duvall. 50-53; Kroeber, 
65; this series, vol. 10, 250-251. 

- Ganisk'ide is a deity known to the Navajo, Matthews, 37. 244. 



1919.] Goddard, White Mountain Apache Myths and Tales. 127 

desert it. They did this; they moved away and left a puppy lying there. 
\Mien the children of Ganisk'ide went where the people had mo\-ed away, 
they found the puppy. They took it up and carried it home. 

Ganisk'ide told the chiklren to throw the puppy away, but when tliey 
ol)jected, he told them to try the dog's eyes by holding fire in front of them. 
When they brought the fire near the dog's eyes it cried, "gai gai gai." " It 
is a real dog," Ganisk'ide said. "You may take him behind the stone door 
where the deer are enclosed and let him eat the entrails." 

When the children had taken the dog behind this door he became a 
man again. He movefl the stone to one side and the deer that were inside 
ran out. Ganisk'ide called to his wife from the doorway to touch the 
nostrils of the deer with her odorous secretions. She touched each of the 
deer on the nose as they ran l>y her and they received the sense of smell. 
They ran away from her. 

"You said it was a dog," he said to his children with whom he was 
angr\-, "but he turned them out for us." The deer scattered all over the 
earth. 

Deer Woman. ^ 

After he married, they went on a hunting trip. When they had estab- 
lished camp where they were to get the deer meat, the man went out to 
hunt, but the woman stayed at the camp. As the husband left, he said, 
if anyone came from the north, that would be himself, but if someone came 
from the east it would be someone else. 

Then Ganljine came there carrying a deer mask in his hand which he 
put on the brush of which the camp was made, and sat down by the fire. 
The deer mask was eating as if it were aliye and it made a noise like a deer. 
Ganljine told the woman to put on the thing which was lying there. She 
replied that a deer mask was something to be afraid of. " Put it on and 
let me look at it," he insisted. " Will it be all right?" she asked him. He 
told her to put it on anyway, and stand at one side so he could look at it. 
She put it on and stood at the place designated in the posture of a deer. 

He threw a turquoise ring on her, and she became like a deer as far as her 
neck. Then he threw a ring of bacine on her and an additional portion of 
her body changed to a deer. Next he threw a ring of tcelfcee, and last, one 
of yolgai. She was then completely like a deer and walked away, wiggling 
her tail. 



1 Told by Frank Crockett's father following the preceding story so closely as to make 
its separation a matter of doubt. A fuller version was obtained from a San Carlos, p 49, 
above. 



128 AnthropologicaJ Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXIV, 

Toward the east there are mountains called Ilijgo. There are four 
mountains standing in a line, one back of the other. She who used to be a 
woman and Ganljine went there together. They were mating as they 
went along, as could be told from the tracks. Deer tracks were in one 
place and nearby, other deer tracks, but on one side a man's tracks. They 
went toward the east. 

When the husband came back he saw by the tracks that a man had 
visited the camp and had gone away with his wife. He went back to the 
settlement and told them that the woman with whom he had gone to hunt 
had gone off, leaving human tracks on one side and on the other side like a 
deer. 

The people went in a company to the place where the man had camped 
and commenced following the tracks that were human on one side and deer- 
like on the other. While being trailed they ran from those who were fol- 
lowing them, who ran after them, chasing them around until the one who 
had been a woman was worn out. They overtook her and threw on her a 
ring of turquoise, followed by one of bacine and then one of icdtcee, and 
finally one of yolgai. As these rings fell on her she became progressively 
human in shape. When she had become a human being again, they took 
her back to the settlement. When it was time for deer to run again, she 
became a deer once more, and then became a person again. 

When thunder was heard, they made a camp and went to hunt little 
fawns which they were bringing into the camp. This woman who had 
turned into a deer had little fawns which she had borne for a deer. She 
went around among the houses where the fawns were being brought in and 
found her own lying there dead. An Indian had killed them both and had 
brought them in. When she learned a man had brought in pretty fawns, 
with \ellow around tlieir eyes, she ran there and commenced to cry. 

She spoke, saying that the deer they should see along the trail where 
she went with lier children would be herself and that they should pray to 
her. 



The Gambler who secured the Water-Ceremony.^ 

A boy started playing najonc and lost his arrows, his moccasins, his 
breechcloth, his shirt, his headband, his hair, his eyebrows, and his eye- 
lashes. When he returned home so divested, his mother told him to go 
away somewhere that she might not see him again. 

' Told by Frank Crockett's father who practised the ceremony. It is for the recovery 
of those who have been made ill by the floods due to thimderstorms. 



1919.] Goddanl, White Mountain Apache Myths and Tales. 129 

He started away, utterly naked as he was, and traveled until he came to 
the edge of the ocean. He jumped into the water but was thrown l)ack.^ 
He did this three times with the same result and then jumped in under the 
water. When he looked back through the water it was white. He began 
to eat all kinds of " worms " as he went along. He ate, also, some of the 
green growth floating on the water. They came with him to the house 
made of water. The fly that sat inside his ear gave him information 
and aihice. All the water people and the fog people went with him; 
Water-old-man was among them and Water-youth with a downy feather 
on the crown of his head. He was sent down that way with a message.^ 
They sent him where the black blanket of water is spread down. 

"Over there he is running along," someone said. "Now to you they 
are starting, Water-youths, to you they are starting. Yonder we are 
coming, Water-\ouths are coming," he said. "They are coming right 
up the stream. 

"Fog-youths arc coming, right in front of the fog they are coming. 

"Where the water stands straight up, next to him, the water people 
are coming to us. With water-downy-feathers as their feathers they are 
coming to us; holding the lightning in their hands they are coming to us. 

"Where the fog stands straight up, standing next to me, they come to 
us," he said. " Fog-youths come to us," he said. " At the end of the water, 
they come to us. Having downy feathers of fog they come to us; holding 
the lightning in their hands they come to us." ^ 

The one who became water came by the house made of fog and water. 
"Where is the place called 'House-of-water'?" he asked. "This place is 
called 'House-of-water'" the water people replied. His monitor, fly, 
told him they were not telling him the truth. He came to the house made 
of water. "Where is the place called 'House-of-water'?" he asked. It 
was Water Chief to whom he came. "It is called 'Water-house' right 
here," he replied. His fly told him that was correct; that 'Water-house' 
was there. 

Two vessels filled with water which was boiling, were by the fire. 
"Drink all there is in one of the vessels," he was told by Water Chief. He 
drank the contents of one vessel and then vomited. He was saying, "wa, 
wa," as he vomited. He threw up all of the underwater "worms." 

They bathed him with the contents of the other vessel. They com- 
menced to dance and danced for twehe nights without sleeping. When 



' A gambler made desperate by his losses is tlie hero of a Navajo (Matthews, 160) and a 
Jicarilla story (This series, vol. 8, 214). 

2 A messenger wears a downy feather tied at the cro\sai of Iiis head and is protected by 
it on his journey. It servos as a safe conduct. 

'' These four paragraphs appear to contain the words of songs. 



130 Anihropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXIV, 

they had danced twelve nights without his falHng asleep they tokl him he 
might go home. 

Then Nai\'enezgani danced there among them. His hat was white on 
top. He held his hand outspread over him as he stood by him. Water- 
old-man, too, danced among them. Water-house was on this side. 

"Water-youths all came here where they were dancing. With their 
downy feathers of water they came there. They came to the dance ground 
holding lightning in their hands. 

" From ' House-made-of-fog,' Fog-girls came where they danced having 
their downy feathers of fog. They held lightning in their hands. 

"Water-youths were behind them, pretty, they were behind them; 
having their downy feathers of water, they were behind them. Holding 
lightning in their hands, they were all behind them. 

"The Fog-girls came from the house made of fog. Having downy 
feathers of fog, they danced with fog. All holding lightning in their hands, 
the dance being made of fog they started to dance with him. 

"They danced with the boy who became water." 

Naiyenezgani danced among them. When they were looking some- 
where else Naiyenezgani became a baby again, and was tied in a basket 
cradle. The attention of the people was attracted elsewhere and when 
they saw Naiyenezgani again he was standing among the W^ater-maidens to 
whom he did various things. 

Tobatc'istcini, too, was tied as a baby, then the two men did various 
things to them. The twelve nights had passed without anyone sleeping. 
He stood between the Water-maidens. The men from a distance made a 
circle and danced. The Water-people danced with him. The Fog-people 
danced with him. 

The Sun was present there. From so great a height ' he looked down 
on them. The}^ danced in his presence. They danced, too, in the presence 
of the ]VIoon. When twelve nights had passed and it was the twelfth 
morning he went to sleep. Far off, a Water-maiden stood. He, who became 
water, stood here and there stood a Fog-maiden. When twelve nights had 
passed he fell asleep. He loved this one. They shouted to him saying, 
"You are falling asleep." The one standing behind him stepped by his 
foot and he fell against him. 

Bil'olisn was there where they were dancing. 

" He took her away, where the land is beautiful with corn. 

" Fog-maiden; where the land is beautiful with pumpkins. 

'■ Bil'olisn; where the land is beautiful with large corn, they two went. 

1 As high as a man's head. 



1919.] Goddard, White Mountain Apache Myths and Tales. 131 

" Fog-maiden; where the land is beautiful with hxrge pumpkins, they two 
went. 

" Bil'oHsn ; where the land is beautiful with large corn, they two sat down. 

" P'og-maiden; where the land is beautiful with large pumpkins, they two 
sat down. 

"Birolisn; where the land is beautiful with large corn, they two lay 
down. 

"Fog-maiden; where the land is beautiful with pumpkins, they two lay 
down. 

" At the east where the black water lies, stands the large corn, with stay- 
ing roots, its large stalk, its red silk, its long leaves, its tassel dark and 
spreading, on which there is dew. 

"At the sunset where the yellow water lies, stands the large pumpkin 
with its tendrils, its long stem, its wide leaves, its yellow top on which there 
is pollen." ' 

This all happened where the man turned to water. He came back here 
where people were Ii\ing. His mother had her hair cut off and was weeping 
for him. He came back at the end of a year. His younger brother was 
walking outdoors and saw him. When lie saw him coming back he said, 
"Mother, o^'er there my brother is returning." "Evil one,- why do you 
say that?" she replied. "I am telling the truth, my brother is conn'ng. 
Come here and look," the l)oy said. She came out and found it was true. 
She called him her son, and told him she had been ha\'ing a hard time and 
had cried on his account. 

He went and lumted deer in company with his brother. He asked his 
brother to hunt in a certain direction and circle around to him again. 
There were thunder showers. The yoimg man was sitting by himself. 
In one direction it was raining, it was black with the falling rain. 

" I wish I might drink water again on top where black rain stands up. 
I wish I might drink water again on top where the water stands uj)." His 
brother returned and surprised him while he was still singing. 

They went back again to the house and the boy told them that his 
l)rother had been singing. He was told there were no songs and that he 
was not speaking the truth. He reaffirmed his statement. He asked that 
a sweathouse be built. When it was ready the boys went in and were 
singing inside. The young man who had been turned into water started 
to sing the water songs. Inside he wove lightning together again. There 
had been no water songs and now they existed. Thus, there came to be 
medicinemen for water. 

I Clearly a song. 

- Becaiise one supposedly dead was being mentioned to a near relative. 



132 Anthropologlcnl Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXIV, 



The Man who visited the Sky with the Eagles.^ 

Long ago, there was a man who had a wife and two children, both boys. 
He went with Coyote on a hunting trip and camped near where they ex- 
pected to secure game. He went out to hunt in the morning; and Coyote 
also went by himself and, as he was walking along, he came where there 
was an eagle's nest on a point of rock jutting out in the middle of a high 
cliff. There were young eagles in the nest. 

Coyote returned to the camp and reported to the hunter that he had 
seen young eagles in a nest. Saying he wished some good feathers for feath- 
ering arrows, he asked the other man to lower him from the top of the cliff 
to the nest. When they had come to the place. Coyote asked the other 
man to allow himself to be lowered and to throw the feathers down for him. 
Coyote lowered him, asking if he had come to the young eagles. The reply 
was, "Not yet." A little later, the same question was repeated and the 
answer this time was, "Yes." Coyote then let the rope fall on the man 
saying, "Cousin, she who was your wife will be mine." 

The man then sat with the young eagles. He asked what sort of weather 
prevailed when their father returned. They replied that a "male" rain 
fell.^ Soon a "male" rain fell and the father of the young eagles flew back 
in the rain. When he came where the man was sitting with the young 
eagles, he asked who was there. The man replied that Coyote had low- 
ered him and that he was hovering his children for him. The male bird 
told him he might remain there and flew off. 

The man then asked the young birds in what sort of weather their mother 
came back. They said she returned when a "female" rain was falling. 
Soon a "female" rain fell and the eagle's wife returned. She asked the 
man who he was; he told her that Coyote had lowered him down there 
and that he was staying with her children. Now she told him he might 
remain there and departed. 

The male bird came back accompanied by a "male" rain. He brought 
with him a water vessel made of turquoise and bade the man drink. He 
drank and tlu; water was not exhausted although the vessel of turquoise 
was very small.'' 

Accompanied by a "female" rain the female bird returned and perched 

» Told by the father of Frank Crockett in February, 1910. For the distribution of this 
story see p. 07 above. It was said to be the myth of a ceremony used to cure one who gets 
ill from eagle feathers wlien lie uses them to put on his arrows. 

2 This method of knowing when the parents are to retiu-n is found in another myth, p. 
17 above. 

'' A similar sui)pl>ing of his wants is in the Navajo account. Matthews, 199. 



1919.] Goddard, White Mountain Apache Myths and Talcs. 133 

nearby. She put down a horn vessel of boiled corn and invited the man to 
eat it. It was a small vessel, but it was not empty when he had finished 
his meal. 

She flew away again and after four days the eagle people all assembled. 
They gave him an eagle shirt and instructed him to do as they did. He 
put on the shirt and flew a little way with it. He put on one shirt after 
another and flew farther and farther each time, four times. He was a 
man but he became an eagle. 

"Where am I going?" he asked. 

"Where the black mirage is located at the center of the sky, I go up. 
In the shadow of his dark wings, I come. 

" Where the l)liie mirage is located at the center of the sky, I go uj). Tu 
the shadow of his l)lue wings, I come. 

"Where the yellow mirage is located at the center of the sky, I go up. 
In the shadow of the \ellow wings, I come. 

" Where the white mirage is located at the center of the sky, I go up. 
In the shadow of the white wings, I come," he sang. 

" Between the two who sit on the white sky, I go up. Where the white 
weeds tow^er up, white on the sky at its center, I go up," he sang. 

"Where the dark houses of the eagles project, I come," he sang. 

" Where the blue houses of eagles project, I go up. 

"Where the red houses of the eagles project, I go up. 

"Where the white houses of the eagles project, I go up," he sang. 

He lay down where there were no habitations. They asked hiui in 
vain to come inside the building, for soon the person with a skull that kills 
would come. 

Saying he would remain there, he refused, and lay down. In the night, 
he heard the one with a skull that kills coming. He took up a stoue and 
hit him with it as he walked by and killed him. He also killed the l)ees 
that had caused the eagles to die out by stinging them. He took the bees 
from their nests and killed them all. He killed, too, the wasps that lived 
in rocks, and all the yellow jackets. The tumble weeds, also, were killing 
the eagles by rolling on them. He beat these weeds with a stick and 
destroyed them. 

He inquired of an old eagle woman where others were li\iug. She told 
him of wood-rats which have many houses and bring liack uuich material 
w^hen they go abroad. He went where cactus was standing and when 
night came, lay down to sleep. He heard the sound of people shouting 
toward the east. They were saying, "Down here." They were chasing 
an insect called ogefdlic. He killed it. 



134 Anthropological Papers Arnerican Museum of Nahiral History.- [Vol. XXIV, 

The stars were people and were coming to get arrows. Those who were 
running after agetdlic jumped over his body one by one as they reached it. 
The last one who was running succeeded in jumping over the body but fell 
back on it. 

They removed the skin, cut up meat, tied it up, and put it on the man's 
back for him to carry. They warned him against looking back. He 
started away with it and carried it until he came to the top of a hill. 
Wondering why he had been told not to look back, he did so and fell over 
backward. He went to the camp of the eagles and told them his load was 
on the hill. They went to get the load and brought it to the camp. There 
was a big pile of the meat which they brought back. " This was what he 
meant," they said. It was sunset by the time they brought the meat back. 

"The man is a good helper," they said. "He has killed for us all those 
who used to kill us." The man then said he was going home, and the eagle 
people tokl him he might do so. They told him, though, that if he was 
afraid four times to fly down, that he could not go down. He was afraid 
the fourth time and came back saying that he would start home again on 
the fourth day. 

They went with him to the place where the trail came up. He was 
afraid three times, but when it was to be the fourth time he flew down. 

"Where the white mirage is located in the center of the sky he rested; 
where the yellow house stands, resting in its shadow he sat down. 

" The blue house, standing at the center of the sk}-; resting in the shade 
he sat down again. 

"The black house, standing at the center of the sky; resting in its shade 
he sat down again." 

From there he flew down and lit on the earth. He alighted on a tree 
near which sat the Coyote who had lowered him. He was saying he would 
shoot the eagle there and get feathers to fix his arrows. When Coyote 
tried to steal up close under him the eagle flew away to his house and became 
a man again. Those, who used to be his children had been renamed, " They 
grew up by eating the neck." Coyote had punched their eyes out. "He 
did it with an awl," they told their father. 

When he came back from hunting, his two children had been all right. 
He heard him bring liis load as he came back. He was saying, "Raised- 
with-neck-meat, come and meet me." " Do not go there," he told his sons. 
Coyote kept shouting as he came. He brought the load there and threw it 
down. He called out. "Good, Cousin. You have come back? I took 
good care of your children." 

The man who had been with the eagles then told his wife to put four 
stones on the fire. She put them on the fire to heat. She put one here and 



1919.] Goddard, While Mountain Apache Myths and Tales. 135 

one liere. " Put two of the stones in your mouth and put your feet on these 
two," he told Coyote. Coyote did as he was told to, but ran only a little 
way before his tail fell out. His wife had an ill odor from l)eing with Coyote. 
He beat among Coyote's children with a stick. 

He did not like living on the earth. He placed eagle plumes in a row 
which multiplied fourfold. With the aid of these the man became an eagle. 
The people living here came to have medicinemen with power from eagles. 
He was a man but became an eagle and is now in the sky above. 



He who became a Snake.^ 

A man (Naiyenezgani) was living alone. He brought wood there and 
built a fire. He danced on rawhide against white men and then went to 
war. He came where the white people were and killed a white woman. 
He raised up her skirt with a stick and Gila monster was there. "Let 
that be your name," he said and Gila Monster was called Icnellai. The two 
of them started back and came to a mountain called Bitcili'ehe. From 
there they went back and came to a place called Tsitena'a. A porcupine 
was there and one of the men said, "My cousin, a porcupine lies here." 
They killed it and buried it in the ashes of the fire. At midnight he un- 
covered it, but Naiyenezgani did not eat of it, only his partner. "My 
cousin, it tastes like red peppers, taste it," he said. They lay down again 
and went to sleep. The next morning there were traces where the one who 
had eaten had crawled into the water as a snake. Naiyenezgani went back 
from there and in the yellow light of evening came back to Tatakawa,- saying, 
"Since early this morning I came from Tsitena'a." When all the people 
had come together they asked, "What place is called that?" "Big-hawk- 
old-man says he has been all over earth and seen everything.^ Send for 
him," they said. When he was summoned, he came walking with his cane 
and sat down. "You are accustomed to say you have seen every place 
on earth. A man says he has come from Tsitena'a since early this morn- 
ing," they told him. "Well, it is not near. I flew from there in ten days 
and when I came here the yellow light of sunset was over the earth." 

Naiyenezgani then said, "He stayed with me last night and he ate 
something. It seems he turned into a snake and crawled in the river." 

All the Eagle people. Black Whirlwind, the Sun, the Moon, and the Gan 



1 Told by the father of Frank Crockett in February, 1910. This is the myth upon which 
the ceremony for curing one bitten by a snake rests. For the San Carlos version see p. 64 
above. 

» A valley on Cedar Creek in the White Mountain country. 

3 This knowledge of geography by a bird-old-man is foimd m a San Carlos story, p. 21. 



136 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXIV, 

people all started toward Tsitena'a. When they came there, in the presence 
of the Sun and Moon, Black Gan rolled a turquoise hoop into the water. 
The water of the river rose up so much. Then Ganlbaiye rolled a hoop of 
bacine into the water. Next Gan with his face half covered rolled a hoop 
of tseltcee in tlie water and the ri\'er was lifted up so much (about a yard). 
Finally, Ganltci' rolled a hoop of yoh/ai and the water was high enough 
above the river bed that a man could walk under it.^ 

They all entered the bed of the river and followed the man who had 
turned into a snake. They finally overtook him. There was a snake on 
the other side which they concluded was the one who had been a man. 
A turc^uoise hoop was rolled toward him and it jumped over his neck. From 
the neck up he took on the appearance of a man. A hoop of haciue was next 
rolled and it fell to the waist. Next a loop of tcelfcee was rolled which 
jumped on the man and fell to the hips, above which he took the form of a 
man. Finally a hoop of yoh/ai was rolled, and his entire body became 
human. Then they 'took him by the hand and led him back. They danced 
for him twelve nights and he was restored as a man. During the twelve 
nights, no one was allowed to sleep, but someone did fall asleep. The one 
who had turned into a snake began to sing, "I am going up. I am going 
up where the skj^ comes together," he said as he sang. He was no longer 
seen where he had been standing. The man had a sister who began to sing. 
"Truly, I am going where it is called, mesquites-come-together." She was 
no longer where she had been standing. 

She is the one who crawls around here in the summertime. The female 
lives below; the male lives above.- 

It was here the Indians secured the supernatural power. Naiyenezgani 
alone had the najonc poles. He alone played with them. There were two 
of the poles. 

My yucca fruits lie this way. 

The Hunter who secured the Bear Ceremony.^ 

A man was out himting when there was snow on the ground. As he 
walked along a hillside he slipped and fell off. Below was a bear's den and 
he fell right into it. When the female bear discovered him she jumped 
around and said, "Wau, wau, wau, wau." "Please do not act like that, 

1 The deities and materials have definite associations with the world-quarters. There 
are certain variations in this association. 

2 This refers to rattlesnakes under the mesqtiite bushes where they are said to be fre- 
quently encountered. The male above is probably the lightning which from this narrative 
appears connected with the porcui)iti(^ 

3 Told by the father of Franii Crockett in February, 1910. 



1919.] Goddard, White Mountain Apache Myths and Tales. . 137 

j^randinother," he said. "It seems I fell in here." He remained there 
four days without anything to eat. "Are you not hungry?" the bear 
asked. "I am hungry," he replied, "but what is there I can eat?" She 
shook herself and cactus fruit rained down from her. After a second period 
of fasting, the same question was asked and the same reply given. When 
the bear shook herself, juniper berries fell. The third time it was white 
oak acorns, and the fourth time, manzanita berries. 

After that she said there were two persons living across the valley and 
that they would go there to visit. She also said the visit would be danger- 
ous, for she had in mind bears and a bear's camp. The bear told the man 
to remain between her hind legs during the period of danger. 

When they entered the bear's house and the hosts became aware of the 
man's presence, they became aroused and growled, "Wau, wan, wan." 
The num remained between the hind legs of his companion who reached 
around with her front legs and defended him. "He has been with me a 
long time and he is our friend," she said to the others. 

Xext they all went to a camp where there were three bears and there 
again the same things happened and the same expressions were used. 
Froui there they went with him to a camp where there were four bears. He 
was protected at that camp as on the former occasions and was introducefl 
as a frienfl. 

Accompanied by the bears, he went back to the camp at which he had 
first arrived. He had been gone a year. He came back to his own people. 
From this man there came to be bear songs and medicinemen with bear 
power. 

The Cannibal Owl.^ 

Owl was a person. He li\'ed by eating people, carrying off the small 
children in a large burden basket. He had a wife to whom he brought 
them, saying to her, " Boil them." When they were cooked he ate them. 

There w^ere some people who were living in a large house made of white 
cactus. Owl poked a pole in after them. The people inside held on to the 
pole. Owl pulled on it and the people held to it. They let go suddenly and 
Owl fell over backwards. He took two children on his back and carried 
them away toward the camp. He put the basket down with the children 
in it anfl went some distance away to urinate. While he was gone, tlie 
children put a large stone in the basket and defiled it. Owl started away 
again with his load, but when he passed under the limb of a tree the children 
caught hold of it. They turned into downy feathers and were blown away 
by the wind. "Boys, downy feathers are being blown al)out over there," 



1 Told by the father or Frank Crockett, February, 1910. 



138 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXIV, 

he said. They had been persons, but now they were downy feathers. Owl 
brought his load to the house for his wife. She took a knife and tried to 
cut across the stone with it. " It is a stone," she said. He took it to his 
son-in-law. " It is a stone with manure on it," he said. " That is its gall," 
he replied. Owl went back to his wife. (The story was interrupted at 
this point.) 

The Doings of Coyote. ^ 

Long ago. Coyote was told that the people were dying. He tied together 
a hairbrush, a wooden skin-dresser, and a stone pestle, and threw them in 
the water. "If these float let them come back to life," he said. They 
sank and, therefore, the dead did not come back.- 

Snow fell. It rained down in the form of flour. This same Coyote said, 
"I chewed ice," and it became ice. 

Also the horns of deer were tallow. Co3'ote again said, " I chew bones." 

Coyote became ill. He had a handsome daughter. When he became 
ill, he told his wife to throw him away. He said their daughter was to be 
given to a man with a panther-skin quiver on his back who would come to 
play najonc. This man, he said, would also have a prairie-dog in his hand. 

^Yhen Coyote was dead his wife gave the daughter to the man described 
by Coyote and he married her. It was Coyote himself, who married his 
own daughter. He had her hunt his lice. On the back of his head was a 
large wart. He told her that the lice always stay on this side, indicating 
a portion of his head remote from the wart. While she was looking for 
his lice, her husband fell asleep. Wondering why he always spoke as he did, 
she looked on the back of his head. There was a wart there. She slipped 
his head off her lap while he was asleep and going to her mother told her 
that the man was her father; that he had a wart on the back of his head. 
She picked up a large stone and was about to strike him on the crown of his 
head when he saw her shadow. He jumped, ran out, and trotted off toward 
the east. Whenever he came where there were camps people reviled him 
as the man who had his own daughter for his wife. They heard him saying 
"ci, ci, ci." They referred to him as the scabby one and hit him. He 
cried "wai" and turned from human form into a coyote. 

Coyote was driving some mules. He smothered five of the mules. 
He wondered what smothered them. "Hurry," he said, "skin their 
throats. This place will be called Coyote Springs," he said. 

When coyotes were people they all drank whiske\' and ran about every- 
where shouting. When they became coyotes, they barked. 

' Told by the father of Frank Crockett. 

2 Tliis incident is generally known over western North America. Professor Boas has 
discussed its distribution. 



JU J.» /^ 



1919.] Goddard, White Mountain Apache Myths and Tales. 139 



Bibliography. 

Franciscan Fathers, The. An Ethnologic Dictionary of the Navaho Language. 

St. Michaels, Arizona, 1910. 
Goddard, Plins" E.\rle. (a) Jicarilla Apache Texts (Anthropological Papers, 

American Museum of Natural History, vol. VIII. 

New York, 1911.) 
(b) The Beaver Indians (Anthropological Papers, Amer- 
ican Museum of Natural History, vol. X, part IV. 

New York, 1916.) 
Kroeber, a. L. Gros Ventre Myths and Tales (Anthropological Papers, American 

Museum of Natural History, vol. I, part III. 

New York, 1907.) 
Matthews, Washington. Navaho Legends (Memoirs, American Folk-Lore 

Society, vol. V. New York, 1897.) 
Russell, Frank. Myths of the Jicarilla Apache (Journal of American Folk-Lore, 

vol. XI, 1898.) 
VoTH, H. R. The Traditions of the Hopi (Publication 96, Anthropological Series, 

Field Colimibian Museum, vol. VIII. Chicago, 
1905.) 
WissLER, Clark, and Duvall, D. C. Blackfoot Mythology (Antliropological 

Papers, American Museimi of Natural History, 

vol. II, part I. New York, 1908.) 



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